The Potton Valley Church in Mansonville organized a fundraiser to benefit the Red Cross’ relief efforts in the Ukraine on April 9 with much success. Despite the heavy rain, the group served over 500 people and raised over $15,000.

“As the day went on, it just never stopped. People were patient with having to wait in the rain sometimes on press points when we had lots of people, but we served over 590 plates of food,” said Anne Stairs, member of the church. “Then we made a cheque to the Red Cross for $15,119, the total amount raised.”

Stairs said that Vincent Jarry from Saint-Étienne-de-Bolton, the representative for the Red Cross, was “amazed” by the number and referred to Mansonville as a “little community with a big heart.”

“He said, ‘you know, this isn’t Magog, you don’t have this big population base.’ Largely people from Mansonville, Sutton, Knowlton, English and French speaking, came in steadily all day long to support the cause,” she said.

The group was hoping to serve a maximum of 500 meals, but exceeded its own expectations.

“Even at 500 meals we were like okay, so what are we going to do with the leftovers because we aren’t used of dealing in that amounts,” mentioned Stairs. “That was our outer limit, but we even went way passed that. We had lots of people, like weekenders, coming down through the area, who would just stop on the road and give money.”

Stairs said that she hopes to see the Potton Valley Church organize other events and other groups doing something similar in support of the Red Cross’ efforts in the Ukraine.

“The Red Cross representative said that in the area, there weren’t a lot of other activities planned. So, if anybody did want to do a fundraiser for the Red Cross the opportunity and the willingness is definitely there,” she noted.

While many thanked the Potton Valley Church for doing its part, Stairs emphasized that it could not have been made possible without the community.

“We couldn’t have done it without the community support so the big thank-you is thank you back, to the people who also saw it and said ‘yeah,’ because it wouldn’t have been anything without people buying into it too,” said Stairs.