Shorelines Casino Belleville was the site of a $6,000 cheque presentation to support mental health services at Wounded Warriors Canada. (Photo: Brock Ormond/Quinte News)
Everybody wins when it comes to a partnership between Shorelines Casinos and Wounded Warriors Canada.
A generous donation of $6,000 from Shorelines’ three casinos (Belleville, Thousand Islands in Gananoque and Kawartha Downs in Peterborough) was presented to the national charity by representatives Wednesday afternoon in Belleville. The funds were raised through each casino’s on-site donation boxes in support of Wounded Warriors Canada’s third annual Highway of Heroes Bike Ride.
The money was raised throughout the month of August from patron donations and will go towards supporting Wounded Warriors Canada’s life-changing mental health programs.
Wounded Warriors Canada Director of Development Darcy Elder (left) and Ron Urquhart, Executive Director for Ontario Gaming East LP (right), both acknowledge their respective organizations will both be made stronger with this partnership, which formed in August of 2018. (Photo: Brock Ormond/Quinte News)
Wounded Warriors Canada’s Director of Development Darcy Elder says this initiative is hugely important for ex-Canadian Forces members, veterans, first responders and their families.
Elder says for every dollar raised, 82 cents goes towards those programs. Some of the programs include: couples PTSD Equine therapy, trauma resiliency and service dog pairings, among others.
Ron Urquhart, Executive Director for Ontario Gaming East LP, says were honoured to be involved in this initiative.
Elder explains how the partnership between Wounded Warriors Canada and Shorelines Casinos came to be.
“When I retired here in Trenton last year, I took on this role as Director of Development for the charity. My sole purpose is to go out and seek out those partnerships that make sense. Given that the Highway of Heroes ride starts in the Quinte region, particularly at the Afghanistan Repatriation Memorial and follows the 401 to Toronto, it made total sense to just ask.”
“I saw (Shorelines) as they grew and came to the community. I knew they were involved in the community and hey, you’ve just got to ask. As Ron (Urquhart) said, the employees are a big part of it and they jumped all over it…we are all in this together.”
Daniel Hrechka of Kingston spent 28 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and got re-involved in cycling four years ago. He says the partnership between Shorelines Casinos and Wounded Warriors Canada is an important community endeavour to raise money and awareness about essential mental health programs for veterans. (Photo: Brock Ormond/Quinte News)
Daniel Hrechka of Kingston spent 28 years in the service and is a participant in the Highway of Heroes ride.
He explains why this partnership is a life-changing one for all involved.
Hrechka explains how he got involved in the ride.
Hrechka says he was able to see lots of different things he wasn’t able to see while in the service, including visiting Vimy Ridge four times.
For more information on Wounded Warriors Canada, visit their website
See below for some background on the Highway of Heroes provided by Wounded Warriors Canada.
In 2007, a 170 kilometre portion of Ontario’s Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, better known as Highway 401, was designated the Highway of Heroes, reflecting its use as the route for funeral convoys carrying fallen Canadian Armed Forces service men and women from CFB Trenton to the coroner’s office in Toronto.
From 2001 to 2014, 158 Canadian Armed Forces members made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of
peace and freedom in Afghanistan.
The funeral processions brought thousands of ordinary Canadians – often led by our communities First Responders – out to the bridges along the Highway of Heroes to pay their respects to the fallen.
