The community has been pitching in and helping in an amazing way. On Easter Sunday, the Lions Club pancake breakfast, with the support of the Lafarge Construction Materials raised $1,000 for the building fund and $1,000 for the affiliated Outreach Healthy Meals project. The Ladies Auxiliary of the Pender Harbour Royal Canadian Legion donated $500. A raffle of planters, with the help of an enthusiastic group of ticket sellers, raised $1,100 in July. In conjunction with the Chamber Music Festival in August, the Project put on a Picnic in the Park dinner. Generously sponsored by the Sunshine Coast Credit Union and Lafarge Construction Materials, it also raised over $1,100. Light refreshments were sold by supporters of the Project at one of the Pender Harbour Jazz Festival venues, raising almost $400. The Fall Faire brought in over $770 in cookie sales and a donation of $131.50 from the artisans’ raffle. Also in September, the first annual Rodz and Hogz show at the CrossRoads Grill donated $1,700 and the Coasters Car Club contributed an additional $100 from their raffle. The Parish of St. Andrews hosted a fundraiser evening of Songs for Abbeyfield and contributed $2,000. The Pender Harbour Power and Sail Squadron hosted another very successful Oktoberfest on behalf of the Abbeyfield building fund and netted over $7,000. The Pender Harbour & District Health Centre Auxiliary donated the entire October income from the Bargain Barn, amounting to $4,645. The Artisans of the Christmas Craft Sale contributed $237.50 from their raffle. At present, the Madeira Park branch of the Sunshine Coast Credit Union is participating in the campaign by helping with the sale of Christmas ornaments. And the Prudential Sussex Realty Pender Harbour Team continues its campaign to raise $50,000 to build the foundation of the Abbeyfield house through the sale of $100 “bricks” which afford the purchasers an opportunity to win a dinner for 8, provided, cooked and served in his or her home by the Team. Individual donations and support have also been very gratifying.

The Area A Seniors Housing Project appreciates this momentum from the community and intends to carry on with it. The drive is to raise approximately another $200,000 by the end of June 2009, which will then qualify the Project to receive $100,000 in matching funds promised by the Real Estate Foundation of BC. Then there’ll be no stopping us. “Together we can do it!”