The corporate and business community in Sudbury teamed up this week for the annual launch of Mission 31, the fundraiser to benefit the Elgin Street Mission.

“The Rotary Sunrisers of Sudbury, in partnership with Chris’ Your Independent Grocer and William Day Construction are providing teams of volunteers for the food drive to support the Elgin Street Mission for 31 days in December,” said Rev. Amanda Rochichaud, the executive director at the Mission. 

She added that the fundraiser has been an important event for the Mission over the years, thanks to the efforts of the Sudbury Rotary Club Sunrisers.

“And then, of course, we have Day Construction as a matching sponsor at $31,000 for the month of December,” she added.

Robichaud said the fundraiser works when the customers at Chris’ Your Independent show their generosity by purchasing pre-packaged $10 and $20 bags of groceries that are delivered to the Mission. 

Robichaud said the Mission was able to choose from the wide selection of groceries at YIG that are then packaged in the donor gift bags.

“We’ve picked out specific things that we use at the mission. And so there’s nothing that goes to waste. It goes straight to us, and we get to make healthy meals for the most vulnerable citizens in our community,” said Robichaud. 

She added that the Mission will benefit from the generosity of Sudbury residents who always seem to come through at this time of year.

“This is a time that people want to give and want to share. So that’s key. But you know, over the last year our meals have gone up by 1,000 meals per month. And so that’s a big number. So this is really helping that bottom line and helping us to meet the needs in our community,” she said.

Robichaud said different teams of volunteers will be helping out to serve meals to clients during all 31 days of December.