Over a half-dozen local charities received funds from the Rotary Club of Chatham Sunrise on Tuesday morning.
The club held a breakfast in Chatham to present cheques of $1,100 to seven organizations. One of those was the Strong Kids Campaign by the YMCA. General manager for the Chatham facility, Amy Wadsworth, said the money will go towards funding swimming lessons for underprivileged kids.
"We see a lot of kids who like to attend birthday parties, which sometimes involve swimming and it's hard to be that child who has to admit they can't swim," Wadsworth said. "At the Y we provide those lessons to everybody and give them the skill to be able to have fun."
Wadsworth added, while drowning numbers among children in the area had been seeing a steady decline, 2018 saw an increase, which was really concerning for her.
"It is a life skill and it is something children should learn," Wadsworth said. "We've been working with schools to do the Swim to Survive Program for grades three and seven. It teaches them different techniques and the importance of wearing a life preserver when swimming. We also teach them to swim in their clothes if they happen to fall in and how that feels."
Wadsworth added over 500 kids enrol in swimming lessons with the YMCA a year, along with over 100 a day at summer camps, which also include swimming lessons.
Habitat for Humanity Chatham-Kent also received a donation. The group is currently planning its biggest build to date, according to executive director Nancy McDowell.
"We're already working with an architect to build the new home in Chatham," McDowell said. "It is going to be a four-bedroom home for a mom and her four children. This is the largest family that we've built for. I know to [the mother] this means the world and it's nice we're back in Chatham. When you look into the eyes of the families in need, it motivates you to work that much harder."
McDowell said the organization hasn't done a Chatham build since 2013 and depends on donations like the one it received Tuesday to take on bigger projects.
According to Sheila Bateman, program chair with the Rotary Club of Chatham Sunrise, the donations were only made possible due to the volunteer work done by its members. She said they donated time with Bingos at the Riverview Gaming Centre, which is how the funds were raised.
Bateman said the club started out with a list of 11 charities and narrowed it down to seven through voting. Once it was down to seven the club simply couldn't eliminate any more, so they decided to split the money evenly.
"We wanted to give that money back that we have raised into the community, into organizations that do good for Chatham-Kent and organizations that fit what Rotary does in our community," Bateman said. "We invited the recipients here today because we personally wanted to say 'thank you.'"
Bateman added the donations were made as part of a Giving Tuesday promotion. She said Giving Tuesday was created in the USA as something to do after Black Friday and Cyber Monday as a way to give back to the community, instead of thinking about oneself and deals on material goods.
Chatham Hope Haven, Salvation Army Foodbank, Outreach for Hunger, Chatham Goodfellows, and United Way were the other organizations to receive donations.
Bateman couldn't confirm Giving Tuesday would become an annual event. She said the club will wait and see how this year goes.