THUNDER BAY — Up to 150 people were expected to attend the Feast on Fire Charity Barbecue Lunch Date with Friends on Friday to raise funds for the Dew Drop Inn.
CSL Environmental and Geotechnical Ltd. organized the charity barbecue outside their location on Russel Street, accepting donations in lieu of payment.
“Every year we try to do a charity barbecue or event at our office and there’s no rhyme or reason to how we select something, but it really has to be community-led and something that’s going to improve the community,” said Chris Perusse, the CSL Environmental and Geotechnical Ltd’s president.
“And, that’s what we’re all about. Like we’re all from Thunder Bay. We like the community, we want to add back and this is the best way to do it. We donated to the shelter house. This was just a logical next step for us to be involved with the Dew Drop Inn.”
Perusse said they absolutely love what the Dew Drop Inn does, who they help and the difference they make: “that to us is everything.”
While there was no goal for the fundraiser, Perusse added that they aimed to do anything they could do to make a difference.
“If the turnout wasn’t great or the weather was poor, we’d find a way to supplement somehow to make this what it needed to be, but (the) weather was there and it is here and the people are showing up, so it’s great,” said Perusse.
He said he was really happy to see the turnout and was extremely thankful for the clients and friends they have because “it’s truly making a difference.”
Perusse added that they also have a couple of major clients that are making some pretty significant donations, so they’re also pretty excited about the number of proceeds.
“We may have a surprise in store at the end. Once we total it up, we haven’t made a decision yet, but the number could get quite a bit bigger,” said Perusse.
The total donations raised for the Dew Drop Inn fundraiser will be announced early next week.
Michael Quibell, the Dew Drop Inn’s executive director, said the charity barbecue looked like it would be very successful so far from the turnout.
“They actually reached out to us and let us know that they were going to do this, which we thought was absolutely amazing. So, we put it out there on our social media pages just to get the good word out. And …. we really appreciate the support of organizations such as this,” said Quibell.
Quibell said that the Dew Drop Inn relies on community support to serve a good meal daily, so the proceeds from the fundraising event will help them buy food.
“Food prices are very expensive now, as everyone realizes, so yeah, any help is definitely welcomed,” said Quibell.
Receiving these proceeds, he added, is great because the community came together to help Dew Drop Inn.
Quibell thanked everyone for coming out on Friday and for the support.
“We really appreciate it and as I said before, this is how we feed the hungry in Thunder Bay,” said Quibell.
