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Letter: Generosity of North Bay on full display

'The story doesn’t end there…another voice from the crowd says “Let’s make it three”  You don’t often see Scott with a tear in his eye and at a loss for words'
One kids place turl
File photo

To the editor:

Covid, homelessness, mass shootings, the war in Ukraine, climate change, etc, etc, etc.

In this world filled with seemingly never-ending bad news, it is increasingly difficult to feel good about the future.

Last night that changed!

The team at One Kids Place hosted their annual golf tournament.  The event sold out very quickly, as it always does.  A great day attended by great people on a wonderful golf course all coming together to help support a terrific organization.  At the end of the golf the group would get together to break bread, share a bottle of wine, and discuss the great (and not so great) golf that happened that day. 

The day was not so different from any other charity golf tournament… until it wasn’t.

Scott Clark was doing his shtick on the microphone as emcee for the evening.  Scott has a unique talent to use his black magic to get people to overbid auction items that they really didn’t even know that they needed.  The auction concluded and a very significant amount of money was raised, then it happened…

Jessica Foy and Kaelan Marshall work at OKP as a social worker and a speech therapist respectively.  I cannot imagine a more noble occupation than working with kids as these two young ladies do every day.  

Jessica and Kaelan brought to the attention of the room a very specific, specialized, and expensive piece of equipment that allows non-verbal children the ability to communicate their thoughts.  Kaelan very eloquently explained to the room how the unit worked and the dramatic impact that it would have on the life of the children that we were there to support. 

One Kids Place was hoping to raise the $24,000 needed to purchase one of these units for the children in our community.

What happened next was simply an incredibly generous display of charity. 

Hand after hand was raised. “ I’ll give $6,000”, “I’ll give $6,000”, “I’ll give $6,000”, and “I’ll give $6,000”.  Four people each offered to pay 25% of the cost of this life-changing technology.  There it was, bought and paid for, mission accomplished. 

It’s over right? 

Not so fast…a voice from the crowd suggests to Scott “I think that this room can buy another one of these”.  Scott looks at the room, gives a shrug, and declares “alright let’s give it a go!”  Very quickly four more hands are raised each offering to pay 25% of the cost of another unit.  The benevolent people in this room had now purchased two of these life-changing units.   

Gets better! 

The story doesn’t end there…another voice from the crowd says “Let’s make it three”  You don’t often see Scott with a tear in his eye and at a loss for words.

The special people in the room last night provided funding to buy three of these units for One Kids Place.  The event raised in excess of $110,000 for the organization. 

Kathy Strang and her team organized this event and deserve all of the credit in the world for their efforts.  Take a bow Kathy!!!  Brenda Loubert and all of the team at One Kids Place deserve our gratitude for the noble work with kids that they do each and every day.  The work that you do is so incredibly important.  Please know that you are appreciated!

On behalf of the board at One Kids Place, we want to say thank you to the community for your continued support of the organization.   Jessica, Kaelan, and the rest of the wonderful staff at OKP wouldn’t be able to do their great work without your support!!!

As for me, this was a night to forget about all of the world’s problems and feel a whole lot more optimistic about our future.  The generosity on display last night was nothing less than overwhelming.  For our kids.

Greg Saunders

 North Bay