Our first fundraiser, following our being chartered as a Rotary club on July 31 2001, was thanks to the Rotary Club of Guelph who offered us the opportunity to sell hot chocolate at their “Sparkles In The Park” event in December 2001 at Riverside Park. Following that we were also offered the opportunity to have a booth at their July 1 2002 “Canada Day” event, at which we sold cold drinks and freezies. And our sponsor club, Guelph Trillium, provided us with the opportunity to have a booth to sell coffee during their weekend-long 2002 “Ribfest” event. The City of Guelph was planning a special one-day 175th Birthday celebration on August 4 2002, on the parkland next to the River Run Centre, and we were offered the opportunity to host the “Ox Roast” at the “GuelphFest” event.
Charter members L-R Dianne Paron, Ann Caine, Frankie Shaw, Dale Sims + Margaret Nixon (along with another volunteer) were dressed in period costumes to sell “ox” buns and celebrate Guelph’s 175th birthday at GuelphFest on Aug 4 2002
Thanks to the efforts of charter member Ann Caine, we were able to secure the sponsorship of Rowe Farms which supplied the side of beef (no ox available LOL) that we were able to barbeque, slice and serve on a bun. Those “ox” buns were then sold for $1.75 each in honour of Guelph’s 175th birthday, celebrating an old custom established by John Galt to celebrate Guelph’s birthday. The kitchen of the nearby arena (now Sleeman Centre) was used by some of our members and volunteers to do the slicing and preparation of the buns which were then transported to our booth. The members that attended the booth were able to be outfitted in period costumes, thanks to the loan of costumes by Royal City Musical Productions from their wardrobe collection.
Considering we had started from nothing a year before, as a new club we were pleased to be so soon – by the fall of 2002 - in a position to be able to donate $2,500 to the St. Joseph’s Acquired Brain Injury Program, $100 to Puslinch Pioneer newspaper, and another $2,471 (for a total of $5,471) to Sunrise Therapeutic Riding & Learning Centre.
Charter member Neil Mahnke manning the barbeque where the “ox roast” was cooked in order to prepare the “ox roast on a bun” that were sold (GuelphFest on Aug 4 2002)