May 9, 2016 | Alberta
CDI College ups the ante, hoping to raise
$10,000 for the Edmonton Food Bank
EDMONTON, AB –
May 9, 2016 – CDI College is excited to announce its 4th Annual
Charity Massage-a-Thon, which will take place next month on Friday, June 3rd,
2016 at the Edmonton North campus. This year’s proceeds will be donated to the Edmonton Food Bank.
EVENT INFO:
DATE: Friday, June 3, 2016
TIME: 9am to 7pm
LOCATION: CDI College’s Edmonton North campus (North Town
Centre, 9450 – 137th Ave., Unit #104, Edmonton, AB, T5E 6C2)
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:
Originally conceived by the Massage Therapy class four
years ago, the tradition continues into its fourth season with incredible energy.
Over the years, the event has attracted many charitable sponsors within the
community who have generously donated items to support the fundraiser. This
year’s sponsors continue to grow with official media sponsor CTV; silent
auction donors such as the Edmonton Eskimos, Earls Restaurant + Bar, Yuk Yuk’s
Comedy Club, Starbucks; and more.
Proceeds from CDI College’s Massage-a-Thon are donated to
different charities each year. In its 1st Annual event in 2013, the
school received an incredible amount of community support and raised $7,500 for
the Stollery Children’s Hospital
Foundation. The event gained momentum in the years to come and in 2014, it
raised $8,000 for the Kids Kottage Foundation
and $7,000 for local women’s shelter A
Safe Place last year. The success from previous events has inspired staff
and students at CDI College to up the ante, aiming for a target of $10,000 for
the Edmonton Food Bank this June.
“Being a massage therapist is a very physically and
intellectually challenging career,” said Celena Voshall, event organizer and
Massage Therapy instructor at CDI College. “It’s especially challenging at an
event like the Massage-a-Thon where it’s one massage after the other, but
knowing that each massage at our event this year will help feed Edmontonians
keeps us going! The excitement at the campus is overwhelming.”
This year’s event
includes:
- 20-minute massages by Massage Therapy students
for a minimum donation of $10.00
- NEW: Celebrity Massage Therapist for a special
donation (Guests include Olympic boxer Scotty Olson, Cruz FM DJ Lochlin Cross, Capital FM DJ Jonathan Best, Doug Hunter from the Edmonton Food Bank, and more)
- NEW: Food drive
- Bake sale
- Barbeque
- Dunk tank
- Kid’s activity room
As part of the initiative, CDI College will also be
holding a food drive for the Edmonton
Food Bank, which distributes food to more than 230 agencies and provides
food hampers to approximately 20,000 people each month.
“There’s always a demand for toiletries, high protein
items like peanut butter, canned tuna and beans, and similar items,” said Doug Hunter,
Resource Development & Community Relations Coordinator at the Edmonton Food Bank. “If we have those
items in stock through our donations, we don’t have to access our funds raised
as often and can use it to purchase fresh eggs, yogurt, bread, and baby
formula.”
Donations will be distributed to shelters, soup kitchens,
non-profit charities, and the food bank’s own hamper program, which provides an
individual or families with baskets filled with essential items on a regular
basis.
“For every dollar that we receive, it helps us make three
meals for an agency or client,” said Hunter. “With those dollars, we are also
able to reach out to the food distributors and grocery stores when we need to
make bulk purchases for things we need for the hampers.”