ENFIELD: The East Hants community once again showed it has a HEART of gold.
Organizers of the recently held HEART Society trivia night and auction fundraiser were left trying to find words to express their gratitude after the event raised more than $50,000 to help Ukrainian families arriving to East Hants in the coming weeks.
The demand for the trivia night, hosted by Matt Conrad, at Shooters Bar & Grill in Enfield was so much that a wait list had to be created for teams wanting in. As it was, the place was packed with residents from East Hants and surrounding community all to help support HEART.
“This event came together really quickly, so we were concerned about getting enough people out – especially on a Tuesday night and in the middle of a pandemic,” said Natalie Horne, main organizers with HEART. “We knew about a week prior that it was going to be a full house, but demand kept growing.
“We actually ended up with a wait list. We were really overwhelmed to see how many people wanted to come out to show their support.”
She said for her and the other volunteers with the HEART Society seeing that much support meant so much to them.
“Of course we couldn’t do this without their financial support, but the turnout to our fundraiser shows us that these new families will be welcomed to East Hants not just by HEART Society members, but by the community at large,” she said smiling proudly. “It’s this welcoming spirit that makes a difference in the settlement of refugees.
“We’ve been fortunate to have several local families express interest in being billets.”
Horne said the money raised means they can move forward with confidence knowing they can support several families in settling in East Hants and surrounding area.
In total, as of May 6 Horne said the total amount raised was $51737.75 and counting. This includes financial donations since the fundraising drive was launched, trivia team fees, auction items, 50/50, and the bake sale. She said so many items were donated they couldn’t include them all on the night so an online auction on their Facebook page will occur.
Terry “The Legend” Isenor was the auctioneer who whizzed through the nearly 90 auction items on hand, throwing in jokes here and there like the one about “Mr. $200 guy” towards a bidder who kept starting bids at $200 on items he was interested in.
The auction saw a Jill Saulnier signed Team Canada Jersey sell for $3,000; a photo of Leno in his underwear (pictured with another local resident) bring in $5,100, and an ultimate chocolate decadent cake made by Terry Lee Urquhart nab $8,000. The cake was won by Mark Stevenson.
“We couldn’t believe it,” said Horne about the amount raised for items like the cake. “I’ve always heard about Terry Lee Urquhart’s cakes as going high at these auctions, but we shattered the previous record of $2,400.
“There was a lot of friendly competition among local business people that definitely worked in our favour.
Horne had a list as long as one’s arm to thank for making the event a success. That included:
businesses and individuals who have donated auction items; Beth MacDonnell at Shooters who assisted in organizing such a large event; the staff at Shooters who came in to work on their day off; Matt Conrad, the trivia host; Terry “The Legend” Isenor for being the auctioneer; the HEART Society volunteers; and all those who came out and attended.
