Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Christmas was supposed to be a slow time of fundraising for a new animal welfare centre of the Stratford-Perth Humane Society.
But good-hearted folks like the actors and crew of A Wind in the Willows Christmas, known as a collective, changed all that.
On Tuesday, they donated all the proceeds from their final show on Dec. 30 to the campaign.
In a small ceremony at the animal shelter Tuesday on Douro St., the play's producer Peggy Coffey and fellow collective members handed $3,080.05, plus a $20 anonymous donation, to a grateful campaign co-chair Eddie Matthews.
"Overwhelming" is how Matthews described his reaction to the collective's generous contribution. It, along with unexpected gifts like a large donation of cash from a local resident's birthday, made the holiday season much brighter than anticipated for the campaign.
"We weren't expecting a whole lot over Christmas," he said.
"With the other charities in town, like the United Way and the (Kiwanis-CJCS) Basket Fund, we didn't want to get in the way of what they're trying to accomplish."
Coffey said the animal welfare centre campaign was simply a natural fit for the members of the Willows collective. With the play's animal characters and focus on the importance of home, it seemed like the connection was tailor-made, she said.
While acknowledging there is no shortage of important and worthwhile fundraising drives, Coffey said that making a link between the play and local animal welfare made sense to the collective members.
"Every cause needs to be tended to," she said. "And if everyone is willing to step up to the plate and share that responsibility in a community, then hopefully everything will be spread out."
Matthews said the centre campaign, which launched last October, is already "well over" the $300,000 level. The community fundraising share of the $2.4-million facility planned for Griffith Rd. is $1-million.
"We're very confident we'll hit that," Matthews said. "We've had a lot of donations come in over Christmas, when we're not really supposed to be doing anything."
Fundraising efforts will gear up again later this month, with initiatives including a telephone campaign. Meantime, organizers await the results of the Aviva Community Fund competition, which could earn the project $100,000 later this month.
The campaign has already gotten $5,000 from Aviva. A successful online campaign netted that amount in December and put the local project into the final round for the grand prize.
Anyone wishing to make a contribution to the animal welfare centre campaign can visit www.sphumane.com, call 519-273-6600 or e-mail development@sphumane.com.
By Scott Wishart for www.stratfordbeaconherald.com.
Photo: Robert King as Mole and Brad Rudy as Ratty. ©2014 Scott Wishart.
2015-01-14
Stratford: "A Wind in the Willows Christmas" donates ticket sales to the Stratford-Perth Humane Society