On Friday, November 10th, nearly 200 guests gathered at the iconic Embassy Plaza in Laval for an evening of comedy with a cause.
The event was organized to help raise funds for the Agape English-speaking Senior Wellness Center located at 3860 #204 on Notre Dame Boulevard.
The Senior Wellness Center was created in 2019 in response to a growing need. “One of the issues we’re seeing with regards to Laval English-speaking senior citizens is that there is a need for increased access to health and social services or even activities for that matter – in the English language,” The centre’s executive director Kevin McLeod commented. “Englishspeaking seniors in the region are often left to their own devices with little help. Many local documents are offered solely in French, as are a lot of the activities and non-profit organizations.”
The non-profit offers drawing and exercise classes, technology workshops, health presentations, painting, bingo, clubs, games and much more for Laval English-speaking residents older than 55. The Senior Wellness Centre has since garnered approximately 500 active members.
Fundraising needed
“We’re going to need more funding to sustain our activities,” said McLeod. “We have to fundraise. We’re one funder leaving us away from putting us in danger.” Now, AGAPE is hoping to get more funding in order to keep its Senior Wellness Centre operations running.
That is why they launched their 1st Annual Christmas Comedy Night Gala. The Emcee for the evening was local legend and comedy soprano Franco Taddeo. The comics for the evening were the opener, Marianne Mandrusiak, upcoming comedian Viveth K and Montreal comedy Icon Joey Elias. Franco opened the show with his wonderful wit and comedy and all the comedians kept the audience laughing for more then 2 hours.
Among the guests for the evening were many municipal, federal and provincial politicians and their attachés who came out and donated to support the worthy cause.
“We don’t make money on our ticket sales, as we want to keep tickets affordable for our senior members,” said McLeod. “Profits come from our raffle ticket sales, silent auction and advertising in our evening booklet. Thanks to all our generous donors we raised just over $6000 for the evening. This is a great start, and we would like to double that next year,” said McLeod.
McLeod thanked all the donors for the wonderful gifts that were donated. “Without our sponsors and advertisers for the evening, we would not have had all the wonderful prizes that we had.” Sponsors included WestJet, Pharmaprix (El-Achkar, Jehtha and Merrouni), Pilaros, Agga Coffee, Lindt chocolate, The Montreal Alouettes, The Laval Rocket, DormezVous and many more.
Keep an eye out for next year’s event as it promises to be another great one!
