By: Greg McGrath-Goudie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Source: CollingwoodToday.ca

The Owen Sound Knights of Columbus have raised over $40k for charity through 2021, after launching a radio bingo fundraising campaign that has spread to numerous communities in Grey County over the course of the past year.

Grey Highlands council approved the organization's request to continue selling bingo tickets in the municipality on Jan. 5.

The group has already donated $20k to the Grey Bruce chapter of Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) in support of its youth programs, with another $20k currently earmarked for donation to them as well.

Knights of Columbus member Jim Cummings said that the campaign started in part because of the organization's relationship with CMHA, through which they have assisted in numerous charity events over the past several years.

After getting the OK from fellow Knights of Columbus members, radio bingo had its first seven-week run in March 2021.

"Because of its success, a second license was obtained until the end of July, and the current third [license which] runs until the end of December," Cummings said.

In 2022, Knights of Columbus plans to continue donating proceeds to the CMHA, while also extending donations to the Owen Sound & Area Special Olympics, The Grey Bruce Pregnancy Centre, and Families For Autism Grey-Bruce.

Cummings said the event has been a welcome return to community involvement for the organization.

"The experience has been fantastic," he said, noting that the organization had been relatively inactive in recent times due to the pandemic. "We were pretty active before, doing dinners, parties, and all sorts of stuff."

"No project such as this could have been successful if we didn't have the support and help of brother knights, [and] a good number of retail locations willing to sell our bingo cards."

The bingo games are held each Wednesday on CFOS 560 (AM radio) after the 2 p.m. news.

At available locations, bingo tickets are sold in packets of three for $20.

In Owen Sound and Rockford, tickets are available at Daisy Mart, 4th Ave West, Bryan’s Sound, Speech and Hearing, 10th St. Diner, Campbells Clothier, McDonald’s Flower Cart, Great Canadian Boutique Outlet, Petro Canada, and  Rockford Family Restaurant.

More information about radio bingo, and other ticket locations, may be found here.

This article is shared thanks to the Creative Commons Licence of the Local Journalism Initiative.