A number of local food banks are getting a boost thanks to the 10th annual Sleighing Hunger Concert.
The event, put on each year by the S'Aints, was forced to go virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that didn't deter residents from attending with the concert ultimately raising $80,000.
S'Aints drummer Jeff Burrows says the funds are being split between the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association, Chatham's Outreach for Hunger and St. Clair College student food banks in both Windsor and Chatham.
Burrows says Liuna 625 and St. Clair College's Alumni Association covered the majority of costs for the campaign.
"It was a homerun," says Burrows. "We didn't think we'd be able to do it as well as it turned out because it's very foreign, but everyone was willing to do it. We had some great partners that stepped up to make sure that a lot of our costs were covered."
He admits it was tough to anticipate how things would turn out this year.
"You have people that are buying your merchandise, you have people that are buying the CD's at all of the local outlets that we share them with," he says. "This year, not only could we not perform live and sell everything there, the outlets were difficult because most of them were closed for most of the time through Christmas."
Burrows says the community stepped up once again.
"It's truly a testament to how amazing Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent is so far as it's support for, not only food banks, but everything else going on at this moment," says Burrows.
Since they began 10 years ago, the Sleighing Hunger concerts have raised more than $350,000.
- with files from AM800's Gord Bacon and Rob Hindi