The Rotary Club of Sudbury Sunrisers paid tribute to the community-mindedness of a local businessman May 2, in particular for his support of the Elgin Street Mission.
Rotarians gathered for lunch at the Mission and to bestow a Paul Harris Fellowship on Bart Day, of the Day Group and William Day Construction. The Paul Harris Fellowship is one of the Rotary Club’s highest honours, and is recognized around the world for community service.
This follows Day Group’s support for a significant fundraising campaign for the Elgin Street Mission held in December 2023. The annual Mission 31 Project sees teams of Rotarians and business colleagues set up teams to serve dinner at the Mission for all 31 days. This raised $21,000 for the Mission.
In addition to that, Rotary volunteers also spent three days in early December helping at grocery check-outs and asking shoppers to purchase pre-packaged bags of food to be delivered to the Elgin St. Mission. The event raised an additional $12,000 towards the cause.
At the end of both campaigns, Day Group made a substantial matching donation of $31,000 in support of the Elgin St. Mission, said a news release.
Along with extending gratitude to the Day family and their group of companies, Rotary said it was also grateful to the hundreds of Sudbury residents who stepped up to volunteer their time and financial support throughout the month of December.
"The Day name is well-respected and admired, not just for his success in the community, but also for its generosity, and it's commitment to others," said Sunrisers member Gerry Lougheed. "And that's what we celebrate today."
Bart Day thanked the Rotary Club for the honour and said the legacy of giving back to the community was something he learned from his late father, the well-known William Day. He also gave credit to company employees.
"It is an honor here to receive all these awards,” Day said. “But really, it has been on the backs of my father and mother for many years. So we're just trying to carry on a heritage and a legacy for my father. And I just want to say one thing. It's fine to say the Day Group is receiving this award. But I want to tell you, there's many, many employees that make all this for us. We wouldn't be doing it without them.”
Len Gillis is a reporter at Sudbury.com.
