The chequebooks were wide open again at the latest Festival of Giving (FoG) in Chatham.
The 2018 edition of the fundraiser, with a British Invasion theme Saturday night, raised an estimated $265,000 for the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent (CTCFCK) and other local charities.
CTCFCK Executive Director Mike Genge says everyone had a lot of fun with this year's theme.
"We brought in three British pubs... and they actually set up English pubs inside," says Genge. "We also had a Queen tribute band, the Beatles, we had Monty Python there -- when you walked in the door there were two guys doing Monty Python and we were giving out fish and chips as soon as you walked in the door."
This year's fundraiser is right on par with the Shipwrecked-themed event in 2017, which raised $268,000.
Genge says great support from their sponsors and their auction items are two of the big reasons they're able to keep putting together such a successful event.
"We had everything from hot tubs to Tom Petty guitars to the Rolling Stones to trips to Dublin Ireland to see Game of Thrones," says Genge. "We had incredible trips and incredible items."
Genge says the Festival of Giving committee will be taking some time off from planning next year's FoG event, but he expects those plans to start up again in October.
In the meantime, Genge says his team will be busy with two more major fundraising events: an Over the Edge rappelling event at the Holiday Inn Express in Chatham on June 23 and the annual Festival of Golf event that's expected to take place later this summer.