Rockin' at the River hauled in more than $17,000 for The United Way of Windsor-Essex.
When Punit Mathur suffered a severe back injury two years ago he set a goal of walking 5 km as part of his recovery. He decided he'd try and turn that goal into something positive for the community and the Rockin' at the River was born.
More than 100 people gathered outside the Riverfront Festival Plaza Sunday morning for second year of the event. Last year Mathur raised $11,000 for Easter Seals, this year he decided to try and double that amount for several United Way programs.
(Photo courtesy of Rockin' at the River Facebook)
Mathur was about $1,800 shy of his goal, but the United Way's Anjana Jacob says the money raised is more than enough. She told AM800 News the organization's thankful that Mathur chose to benefit its programs this year.
"It was just Easter Seals last year and Punit had an opportunity to visit some United Way programs in our community in the fall and decided that he wanted his support to benefit some of those programs," says Jacob. "He was impacted by what he saw. "The programs benefiting from the event today are the United Way Summer Lunch Program, which has a goal of feeding 900 kids in the west end of Windsor this summer, also, the United Way funded after school and mental health programs that are free of charge to people in need in our community."
The Rockin' at the River Walk/Run has now raised more than $28,000 for local charities.