London companies push the bus to send kids to camp

The ‘Push the Bus’ event was held Thursday to raise money to send kids to YMCA summer camps.

Staff members and volunteers from organizations across London, Ont. were pushing the bus Wednesday to help send kids to camp.

“This is our annual Push the Bus event,” explained Christina Harley, VP Development, Marketing, and Communications YMCA of Southwestern Ontario.

“It’s basically the ending of our Push the Bus campaign, where we are pushing buses, literally, across the finish line in order to raise funds to support kids and families with access to YMCA camps, programs, and services,” she said.

Among those taking part, Backstage Ben from Virgin Radio, London.

“The idea to send a kid to camp with a small donation of 200 bucks, every $200 will send a kid to one of their Y camps, and otherwise they don’t have that opportunity,” Ben said.

“It was a lot of a heavier vehicle than I thought it was going to be,” added Pure Country 93 host Leeanne Whitehouse. “Coming here I thought it was going to be just a quick, easy little push. But you really have to put some weight behind you, get a good squat going.”

The main sponsor for the event is Mainstreet London Credit Union.

Mainstreet CEO Chris Inniss says helping families falls right in line with what they do.

“Forty per cent of Canadians report losing sleep over their finances. So that’s a really great problem for us to solve. Where that connects with this, is access to high quality childcare and access to camps allows people to get to work comfortably, safely, and they know their children are well taken care of,” Inniss explained.

The campaign has a goal of $275,000 said Harley.

“We just passed the $200,000 mark, and we’ll wrap it up by the end of summer. So, we’re really excited by the impact that we’re going to see.

Harley says the funds will help 1,375 children or 40 buses full of kids, with life-changing opportunities through access to Y programs and services.