For the past several months, the Meridian Community Centre has been busy with people getting their Covid-19 vaccinations.
On Thursday, people were getting a fix of another kind, picking up dozens of Krispy Kreme doughnuts as part of a Kinsmen Club of Fonthill and District fundraiser for Pelham Cares. People shelled out $10 in dough for a dozen doughnuts with $5 of each purchase going to Pelham Cares. The curbside pick was administered by Kinsmen wearing Krispy Kreme hats.
Resident Barb Rybiak was one of the first to pick up her sweet treats Thursday, riding her bike downhill from Lookout Street to the community centre.
“We are supporting a great cause, Pelham Cares,” she said. “I saw the sign and I might have been one of the first people to sign up. I don’t know why I am getting them but I will enjoy them and I am going to share them. I like doughnuts.”
One of the Kinsmen on hand helping out Thursday was event chairman Len Doyle.
“We stole the idea from other Kinsmen clubs, who have used this as a fundraiser for their local communities,” Doyle said. “We’re Kinsmen so we share ideas and this particular one I got over a Zoom conference.”
The Kinsmen contacted Krispy Kreme and found out that they would allow the club do it as a fundraiser.
“We then approached Pelham Cares and, of course, they were onboard,” Doyle said.
The Krispy Kreme campaign was a sweet success.
“In fact, we sold so many that Krispy Kreme had to spread it out over two days. We sold 650 dozen,” Doyle said. “We know it is a unique item for the Niagara region because the closest store is Mississauga. It is kind of a novelty. Nothing against Tim’s, who have been a good partner with us in the past, but we just wanted to try something different.”
In case your mental arithmetic could use some help, 650 dozen is 7,800 doughnuts.
The fundraiser included a business component.
“We talked to business people and encouraged them to give their employees a thank you,” Doyle said. “It has been a tough year and a half. And as a way to give a thank you to their employees for $10, they could buy a dozen doughnuts and ask their employees to take them home and share them with their families.”
That portion of the fundraiser sold 350 dozen doughnuts which were delivered directly to the businesses last Wednesday.
In total, the event raised $3,250 for Pelham Cares.
“We always try to help them but we have not been able to in the last couple of years because normally the gate admission at the home show would go to them,” Doyle said. “Since we haven’t been able to do a home show or other projects we wanted to get back into the community and help out a good cause such as Pelham Cares.”
Doyle admits to be a fan of Krispy Kreme.
“I like the occasional one but the problem is you can’t eat just one,” he said with a laugh. “Yesterday I had two but knowing full well that today I will probably have another two.”
The next fundraiser for the Kinsmen is its annual toll collection for Cystic Fibrosis in the Shoppers Drug Mart plaza, an event that normally raises between $1,500 and $2,000. No date has been set yet for that fundraiser.
