It was a warm and windy Saturday in June 2013 when the tradespeople and suppliers of Cook Homes gathered their teams and donned their baseball gloves for a day of family fun, friendly competition and generous community support. The Petersburg Park was alive with the aroma of an all-day BBQ and squeals of delight, as children enjoyed the bouncy castles, played games and anticipated a look in the mirror after a professional clown gave them a beautiful face-paint design. This was the scene of the 9th annual Cook Homes company picnic and baseball tournament and Strong Start was there!

Each year Cook Homes selects one of their employees to choose the charity partner for this event. This year Strong Start was selected by Jo-Ann Grau, their Accounts Payable Administrator. Jo-Ann shared that it was her personal love of reading which led her to an online search for a local children’s literacy charity and ultimately to Strong Start. Each of the 10 teams who participated secured their place in the tournament with a charitable gift to Strong Start and then in addition to sponsoring the event, Cook Homes added their own charitable gift as well. What resulted was truly amazing.

During the cheque presentation, by Ian Cook -President, Tim Allensen – Vice President and General Manager and Jo-Ann Grau, it was revealed that the amount of the gift to Strong Start was $8,000.00. Strong Start thanks Cook Homes, their tradespeople, suppliers, family and friends for utilizing their annual company celebration to improve the lives of children in our community. For more information about Cook Homes please visit www.cookhomes.ca.