Ottawa, ON – On Saturday, June 8 despite the wet and muddy conditions over 1,500 people gathered at Ottawa’s east-end Shefford Park for the 21st annual CHEO BBQ with the new title sponsor SUBWAY®.
CHEO BBQ is Ottawa-Gatineau’s only volleyball and ultimate Frisbee event, as well as a 5km family, walk around the streets surrounding the park presented by RBC. Other event festivities include the Wireless Amber Alerts Family Zone with activities for kids and entertainment by Radical Science, Little Rays Reptiles, Yaki, Capital City Garrison and great food from the Bytown Catering barbecue pit, including chicken, sausages, veggie kabobs, hamburgers, hot-dogs and a steak dinner, all with the hopes of this year raising $75,000 for the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO).
This year Mike Machargo was able to present a cheque to CHEO from last year’s event during the CHEO Telethon in the amount of $65,000.
The CHEO BBQ was also happy to welcome back Ottawa’s CTV Morning Live host, Lianne Laing returning as honourary chair. “I am thrilled to be back again this year as honourary chair of the CHEO BBQ. As a mother of two, I know how important CHEO is here in our community and what it offers to parents, patients and our future. I am blessed to have two healthy daughters, but understand this is also something that can’t be taken for granted. I can only imagine how crucial this is for families who rely on these services day in and day out.”
The CHEO BBQ is a far cry from 1993 when it began as a 15-person backyard gathering organized by Mike Machargo and co-founder Johnny Hunt, where a fishbowl was passed around to collect donations for the hospital during the CHEO Telethon. Since then, the CHEO BBQ has grown bigger every year with over 1,000 participants, 40 sponsors and 200 volunteers, and a grand total of $425,000 raised for the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) over 20 years.
