STROBEL: THE CAT’S MEOW! Finest ever Solar Christmas Fund raises $139,210

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We had been a tantalizing whisker away from a file Solar Christmas Fund – then my cat, Tulip, put us excessive.

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I used to be again in my retirement cabin atop Lake Huron, lamenting how shut we had been, just a few hundred {dollars}, but up to now, once I heard a sympathetic meow from the kitchen.

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Tulip dipped a paw into early proceeds from VIKING CAT – Saga of Tulip the Courageous on Manitoulin Island and boosted the fund to $139,210, in support of Selection – the Youngsters’s Charity of Ontario, and Selection Village.

This can be a smidgen over final yr’s record-shattering $139,070. A outstanding outcome, given world battle, inflation, and an iffy economic system.

It brings the Solar Christmas Fund’s all-time whole to $1.95 million. Subsequent yr, $2 million or bust.

So, it has been a really merry season for the Christmas Fund.

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Madison “Madi” Ambos, 10, my marketing campaign chairkid, thanks you.

So do Zach, Mavi, Gavi, Liam, Maclean, George, Kyra, Maya, Bhavjeet, Jacob and all the opposite children I’ve written about on this marketing campaign and through the years for whom Selection Village, in Scarborough, is a second dwelling and their entrée to sports activities and health.

Hundreds of youngsters stroll, or roll, its inclusive halls. They pack its legendary summer season and day camps and life-skills lessons. They do physio. They be taught wheelchair basketball or Volt hockey or swim racing or synchro or taekwondo or monitor.

A number of go on to nationwide para sport groups and world acclaim, however all of them acquire one thing even larger: Confidence.

Confidence is gold in a world the place folks with disabilities had been lengthy outcast at worst and pitied at greatest.

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Confidence is Selection Village’s inventory in commerce. This yr I wrote about A.J. Morrison, who gently pushed his coach apart and took his first unbiased steps, at age 17. And about Stella Leblanc-Beaudoin, 7, who has Down syndrome. She shed her fears and scaled her Mount Everest, the Village rock-climbing wall.

Small steps for you and me. Large leaps for these children. None of this occurs with out your assist.

Tulip thanks you. VIKING CAT gross sales will proceed to profit Selection. You’ll be able to order at www.northchannelpress.com. It’s a rollicking journey story for animal-lovers of all ages.

Tulip will even signal it, until the Humane Society approves her grievance over having a paw dipped in ink.

The hard-working employees at Selection Village, the Toronto Solar and Postmedia additionally thanks. And I thank them.

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PURRFECT JOB BY SUN READERS

Tulip might have topped up the Solar Christmas Fund, however she’s simply one in every of hundreds of Solar readers (sure, Tulip is a remarkably well-read cat) who’ve introduced it this far, together with the latest donors on this closing listing:

John Sturdy, North York, $50

Ron and Penny Archibald, Uxbridge, $50

Beverly Kato, Toronto, $35

Angela Barnes, Etobicoke, $150

James and Louise Beauchamp, Stouffville, $25

Eric Sobel, North York, $36

Doreen and Roger Chambers, Peterborough, $100

Dorothy Rusoff, Toronto, $50

Julia Gillis, Lindsay, $100

Andrew Barber, $35

Calvin Jessome, $50

Nameless, $500

Barry Leyland, $75

Keith Robertson, $50

Gail Quinney, $200

Daniele Giatti, $500

Joe Garisto, $50

Lisa Lee, $50

Christopher Joachimides, $100

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Jackie Cumming, $50

Catherine Ho, $100

Oliver Giesen, $50

Jackie Kot, $100

Jim Muir, $150

Nameless, $50

Donna Altese, $100

Mark MacVittie, $100

Monica and Jon Mitchell, $100

Usha Shifrer, $50

Barbara Brunsden, $100

Sandra Hartley, $750

Nameless, $25

Pleasure Ladouceur, $100

Adele Matthews, $25

Carolyn and Mike Strobel, Kagawong, $1,000, in honour of Doug Creighton and George Gross

Bob and Adriana Brown, $50, in honour of Michelle

Nola-Susan Crewe, $150, in honour of Harold James Nelson

Alana Auger, $50, in honour of Norma Stoate

Debbie Forrester, $50, in honour of Shaun Forrester

Amy Sevigny, $50, in honour of Invoice Sevigny

Steven Fowler, $50, in honour of Melvin and Alice Fowler

June Hodge, $500, in honour of Liam Henry

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Dianne Bridger, $50, in honour of Margaret Bridger

Alfa Hilwan, $50, in honour of George Guinto

Claudia Leavens, $100, in honour of Anna Leavens

Karla Del Grande, $100, in honour of Duncan

Susan McCoy, $50, in honour of Luisa Scala

Mike O’Hearn, $100, in honour of Sean O’Hearn

Eileen Schrank, $50, in honour of Karen MacDonald

Sue Heath, $100, in honour of Susan and George Rose

Steven Fitzgerald, $100, in honour of Doug Fitzgerald

Joe King, $100, in honour of Doug Creighton and George Gross

Ronald Lindemann, $50, in honour of Christopher

Antonio Cardone, $70, in honour of Angelina Cardone

Nameless, $20, in honour of Isabel

Anne Martin, $200, in honour of Mark Harlow and Jessica Martin

Brad Grey, $50, in honour of Peter Shea

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Giuseppe Greto, $100, in honour of Justin Wales

Lorna Chega, $50, in honour of Janette and Dennis Hayes

Gordon McRae, $500, in honour of Jocelyn and Allen McRae

Barbara Dance, $100, in honour of Kyra Menzie and Cherilee Garofano

Brian Gregoire, $25, in honour of Madison and Katherine Ambos

Steven Fitzgerald, $100, in honour of Joe Fitzgerald

Maryse Baillargeon, $50, in honour of Stella Leblanc-Beaudoin

Nameless, $200, in honour of Brian

Cindy Hewson, $50, in honour of Leonard and Gloria Briscoe

David Masters, $500, in honour of Jeffery J. Masters

Sana Qureshi, $50, in honor of Mavi

Doug and Karen Peacocke, $50, in honour of Bob Murphy

Jen Parker, $25, in honour of Shay Clark

Keith Robertson, $50, in honour of Mary O’Callahan

Jackie Kot, $100, in honour of Betty Chovance

Donna Altese, $100, in honour of Antonio Altese

VIKING CAT ebook gross sales, $1,875

GRAND TOTAL: $139, 210

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