Shawville Canada Day flea market raises nearly $7,000 for local classrooms
Shawville Canada Day flea market raises nearly $7,000 for local classrooms
The annual Canada Day flea market in Shawville was a resounding success again this year, raising a whopping $6,859.70 for educational supplies at Dr. S.E. McDowell Elementary School. The total haul was just shy of last year’s record breaking $7,586.80. The event has been going on for more than a decade, and was spearheaded by husband and wife team Melanie Duchesne and Chris Beimers. The charity event quickly grew to fill the floor of the Shawville arena and has become a staple of the town’s Canada Day celebrations.
Beimers explained that when they got started they had donated their proceeds to the Pontiac Hospital’s dialysis unit project, raising roughly $25,000 over the course of 10 years. When their son entered school, they decided that the funds should be directed towards boosting teachers’ classroom budgets.
He said that the money is evenly distributed among the school’s teachers and they decide how the money is best spent, putting it towards everything from classroom equipment to special projects.
The breakdown of the profits are as follow:
