Melfort's Christmas Castle Fundraiser donated over $10,000 to three different charities. (file photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Doug Lett

Dr. Yemi Christmas Castle donation

Christmas Castle donations welcomed

Jan 23, 2023 | 4:30 PM

A Christmas charity in Melfort has donated over $10,000 to several local charities.

“It definitely will be well spent – it’s wonderful,” said Peggy George, who is chair of the North Central Health Care Foundation. The NCHCF is getting $5,000 from the Christmas Castle event, earmarked for palliative care.

“The meditation room upstairs is used a lot by people with family in palliative care and perhaps we can embellish that to make it a little more comfortable,” George said, adding the board will discuss what to do with the money before making a decision.

The Christmas Castle is a maze of Christmas trees, along with refreshments and music, set up in the historic post office in Melfort. It’s free to attend, but donations are encouraged.

It was founded by Dr. Adeyemi Laosebikan (Dr. Yemi) and his wife, Foluke, both as a fundraiser and as a way to draw more people in Melfort’s downtown.

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“It feels good to see how people in the community have responded to support this initiative,” Dr. Yemi said. “It’s very encouraging.”

For Melfort’s food bank, the $3,000 donation will help buy staple food supplies for several months.

“We always need to purchase food and we purchase, milk, eggs and margarine every time we are open,” the Food Bank’s Ellen Zuck said. “We spend probably 500 bucks a month.”

She added demand continues to go up, and with donations slowing down after Christmas, the donation is very welcome.

A charity for children with cancer, called Believe in the Gold, is the third recipient, getting just under $2,600. The charity operates across the prairie provinces, and helps with expenses not covered by provincial health plans, along with contributing to research.

Dr. Yemi said the 2022 Christmas season saw attendance lower than previous years, but in spite of that donations were up.

“There are lots of generous spirits out there,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for us to share the spirit of Christmas with everyone in the community and also support a few organizations in town, and bring traffic to Melfort’s downtown.”

He added he hopes the Castle event can be held again in December 2023, although the location is not finalized yet.

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doug.lett@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @DougLettSK