By Raymond Hardisty
It all started in 2019 when I went for a walk one sunny day during the summer. I was approached by a vehicle, where a man named Jeff Malloy emerged & offered a proposition of helping to organize & put on a fundraising event in honour & support of my fundraising efforts for Sick Kids Hospital. Jeff said that he knew my father, Steve Hardisty, back in the day when he was working for the OPP.
Jeff then introduced me to his brother John Malloy & their mutual friend Rob McPherson & together we all devised ideas for this fundraising concert event for me. It all came down to us hosting the event at the Collingwood Legion with a 50/50 raffle, silent auction, and live music (thanks John McNevin) with us performing & myself showing off my singing talents. When the date was officially decided to be scheduled for June 14th, I told the guys that that was just 3 days before my Birthday. So, they decided to make it a joint occasional event with a birthday cake included.
With Rob’s involvement, help & support, the concert event was a huge success & great turnout with us raising an amazing grand total of $1,778.
When the pandemic hit the world in March 2020, certain precautions caused quite a strain on my fundraising efforts from working at the local Dairy Queen in Stayner with my usual selling of the paper balloons to the customers & my temporary leave due to a compromised immune system. Fortunately, both the Malloy brothers & Rob McPherson came to me with a brilliant idea (Rob’s idea says the Malloy bros) of a backup plan to continue my fundraising quest.
From 2020-2022, we raised an amazing grand total of over $29,000 in the bottle drives.
Between bottle drives, Rob McPherson would go around & collect empties from his neighbors, friends, family members, as well as from his workplace coworkers at the Collingwood Brewery & donate the money from them to my fundraising efforts for Sick Kids Hospital.
With Rob’s individual support work towards my cause, he’s helped raised just under $3,300 for Sick Kids.
Overall, I could not have gotten this far in my fundraising if it weren’t for Rob’s good heart, honour, support & dedication into helping me raise so much money for a cause that I hold most dear & close to my heart. Rob’s contribution will most definitely go onto help make a difference, make miracles happen, & above all help put a smile on all the little children’s faces who are sick & suffering right now just waiting for a cure & will ultimately fill each and every one of them & their families with hope; hope that their family will be healed from this pain & suffering of their child family member & hope for their child’s future to be shining bright & free from pain.
