Record-breaking fundraiser supports the Sudbury Elgin Street Mission

The annual fundraiser for the Elgin Street Mission in Sudbury raised a record $140,000 this year.

Mission 31 is an annual campaign held each December that sees the Rotary Club of Sudbury Sunrisers partner with local businesses, families and community leaders to raise money for the Elgin Street Mission.

With the need for help increasing in recent years, the fundraiser set a new record this year, officials at the Mission said.

“Our total goal this year was to get $100,000,” said campaign co-chair Liz Spooner Young, adding that the funds were needed to erase the Mission’s deficit.

“We collected an unprecedented amount of $140,000. So we’re super, super excited and super grateful.”

Will cover one-third of Mission’s budget

The funding will cover a third of the Mission’s budget for the year.

Amanda Labreche, Elgin Street Mission director, said she was surprised at how much was raised this year.

“Especially with the cost of everything going up, that’s a major surprise,” Labreche said.

“You kind of look at what things are happening in your community -- you look at the economic climate and you think, OK, maybe we might not get what we got last year. And so to see something like this, it just goes to the heart of Sudburians and the love of their community.”

The Mission serves two meals a day to about 300 people, many of whom are families with children.

“We actually started this Mission in 2009 and it was very small at the time,” Spooner-Young said.

“It was for Rotarians to go out in the community with $500 and try to make it grow ... We raised $6,000 that year and every year it’s grown little by little.”

One of the largest donations was $31,000 from William Day Construction.

“Our family was one of the first to donate to this cause and we’ve continued to do that ever since,” said Bart Day.

“It’s a strong part of our faith and what we believe --- giving back to the community, giving people that are down and out a hand. And so we continue to serve Mission 31. We have employees who come here and serve coffee and dinner on occasion.”

Labreche said the mission currently has 300 volunteers who serve breakfast and dinner every day of the year, but added they are always looking for more people to help.