A pair of local groups are expanding their services thanks to a golf tournament.
The 4th annual Chatham-Kent Charity Classic at Willow Ridge Golf & Country Club raised over $38,000 on August 10, 2024. Just over $17,000 is going to the Kiwanis Club of Chatham-Kent, and $10,800 to the Suicide Prevention & Education Committee of Chatham-Kent.
The Kiwanis Club is using the money to add 75 children to its Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, which distributes 4,500 books to kids aged 0-5 across Chatham-Kent. The Suicide Prevention Committee is using the funds to offer 75 free safeTALK training sessions as well as 20 free ASIST training sessions.
The CK Charity Classic was able to give out an additional $10,300 in angel gifts to three other groups; the Learning Disabilities Association of Chatham Kent, the Kiwanis Music Festival, and the Chatham Kent Public Library Story Kits.
Gift cards were also donated to volunteers at Free Help CK and Loads of Love for their work in helping those affected by the fire at 99 McNaughton in Chatham.
In just four years, the event had raised over $102,000 for various Chatham-Kent not-for-profits and charitable organizations.
The beneficiaries of the 5th annual CK Charity Classic was also announced, with the money raised in 2025 going to the Ontario Student Nutrition Program - Chatham-Kent, FreeHelpCK, and the Mental Health Network of Chatham-Kent in a special partnership with Handy Bros. Home Comfort.
The CK Charity Classic is a non-profit that was founded by Adam and Erin Dickinson along with Eric Koscielski as a way to give back to Chatham-Kent. For more information, visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ckcharityclassic/.
