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$10K for Chief's Youth Initiative in an hour

Three representative from three charities had each taken their turn at the podium. All three were passionate, enthusiastic and compelling.
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Anna Maria Barsanti (right) found more than 100 people to donate $100 for a local charity during the 100-Plus Strong campaign. From left, Kelly Beeson, Michelle Cloutier, Brenda Tessaro, Toula Sakellaris, Deborah Rousseau and Nancy Dozzi all participated, helping generate more than $10,000 for the Chief's Youth Initiative Fund. Photo by Jenny Jelen.

Three representative from three charities had each taken their turn at the podium. All three were passionate, enthusiastic and compelling.

By the time the speeches wrapped up, it no longer seemed to matter which charity the audience voted in favour of — there were no bad choices.

Donating upwards of $10,000 to the Chief's Youth Initiative Fund, the Sudbury Food Bank or the Northern Cancer Foundation all sounded like good ideas.

Still, the audience couldn't help but wait anxiously for the votes to be counted.
Then, just 50 minutes after the fundraiser began, a winner was announced. The Chief's Youth Initiative Fund would be the first-ever recipient of the 100-Plus Strong campaign.

“It's amazing,” said Anna Maria Barsanti, still a little shocked by the overwhelming results. Barsanti was inspired to host the fundraiser after reading about a similar event in a book called Miracle: 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possibly by Regina Brett.

The premise of the fundraiser was to gather at least 100 caring people interested in supporting the community. Each individual committed $100 to a local charity, before even knowing which one it would be.

The group would gather, like they did on May 15 at Tom Davies Square, and each participant would write their name and charity of choice on a ballot. Before the event began, three names were selected.

Those individuals were then invited to the podium, to talk about their chosen charity. Once the three speeches were done, the rest of the group was tasked with voting for whichever charity they felt was most deserving of the funds.

Whichever organizations received the most votes was then declared the winner, and everyone in the crowd signed cheques over to them. The whole thing happened in less than an hour.

“It didn't matter to me who won,” Barsanti said. “We all won as a community.”

Sharon Baiden, CAO of Greater Sudbury Police Service, spoke on behalf of the chosen charity. She wasn't able to stay for the results, but later told Northern Life in an email she was happy about the outcome.

“We are thrilled that the Greater Sudbury Police Service's Chief's Youth Initiative Fund will be the beneficiary of the funds raised during this one-hour event,” she said.

“Through this tremendous community effort young people in our community will continue to have opportunities through positive interactions with the police and participation in activities such as sport and music.”

After the success of the first event, which is still seeing donations trickle in, Barsanti is hoping to make the 100-Plus Strong campaign a regular event.


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