Giving back is a growing concern for organizers of the annual Okanagan Beard Festival.
That’s why the two men who have run the event for the past three years chose Discovery House as their charity of choice.
“Their (Discovery House) whole belief of save a father, save a son struck a nerve with us,” said festival co-organizer and owner Peter Beauchamp of Okanoggin Barbers.
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He and festival partner Tim Tweed, who runs Splendid Bastard Beard Supply, recently dropped off a cheque for nearly $4,200 at the Discovery House Winnipeg Street location.
“We did a tour of the house and we met some of the residents there and saw first hand what they’re doing, it was a big eye opener,” said Tweed. “It feels great to know it’s benefiting actual people who are trying to get their lives back on track. We met one guy there who is the quote, unquote ,beneficiary, he’s in a room that’s partially funded by the Okanagan Beard Festival.
“The money goes to Discovery house as an organization but that really helped us humanize the actual person who is benefiting. It was quite emotional.”
In the three years it has been supporting the facility, the Okanagan Beard Festival has contributed just shy of $10,000.
“It (festival) gives people a fun night out, it gets a whole bunch of men to become friends and have a social life and at the same time we get to raise some decent money for our charity,” said Beauchamp.
According to Discovery executive director Jerome Abraham donations like this keep the doors to the house open for some of the most vulnerable residents.
“We subsidize about 75 per cent of the client costs living at the Discovery House,” said Abraham, who oversees 18 beds in two locations. “It’s providing care for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford long term recovery, so it’s how we exist, by having these community partners who step up and make these kind of donations.
“Obviously there’s many, many individual impacts not just on the clients we serve but in reductions in crime, homelessness, reductions in use of the food bank and spin offs with peoples’ families getting their fathers or their sons back in their lives, these donations help us do that.”