On Friday Swift Current's KidSport organization was raising money to help ensure that kids get an opportunity to participate in sports.

KidSport hosted a breakfast event that saw money raised for the organization from a couple of different methods.

Richard Bissonnette, chair of the Swift Current KidSport committee, said that the event was a major fundraiser for the organization.

"This is also a major fundraiser for our local KidSport, we generally get donations from companies and individuals throughout the year, and this is just another way to generate additional dollars, because it costs a lot of money to get kids involved in sports."

Hosted at the Living Sky Casino, a table at the event could be purchased for $400, and individual donations could also be given.

Bissonnette spoke on how local companies stepped up and purchased tables at the event.

"Our businesses in this community are very supportive, and we had a great response in people picking up full tables or half tables, and encouraging their employees to come out and come to the breakfast, it was one of those things where we mainly open it up to businesses and hope that any individuals that are wanting to come, can come through one of those businesses."

Bissonnette said that the event was very well received, and hopes that the money raised would keep kids able to participate in athletic activities.

"All in all, it was a very good event as far as the support, and hopefully, we haven't really counted up the numbers yet, but hopefully we are able to generate a little bit of money to keep kids playing sports."

The guest speaker at the event was Todd Holt, the all-time leader in points for the Swift Current Broncos.

Bissonnette said that the speech revolved around Holt's experience with sports growing up, and his experiences playing hockey.

Also presenting at the breakfast was Tim Horton's, who announced a donation towards Swift Current's KidSport, something that Bissonnette said will be a major part of their budget.
"We did have a major presentation from local Tim Horton's, they have their annual Smile Cookie campaign, and as of this year, they had raised a little over $13,100 for KidSport, and that's a huge chunk of our annual working budget."

Bissonnette attributes the high number of cookies sold to local businesses buying many of the one dollar cookies for their staff, and said that over the 11 years that they have been partnered with Tim Horton's, they have raised around $90,000 for KidSport.

Speaking on where funds raised would go, Bissonnette said that their primary draw of finding is covering the cost of registration, as well as some sports equipment.

Bissonnette also spoke on the need for more fundraising events like this one to continue to provide support to the kids of Swift Current to participate in sports.

"Over the past few years, we've seen a lot of our applications increase, registrations for local sports increase, so the need for money seems to be increasing as well, and we've kind of stayed level with the amount of money we've been able to generate, whereas now it seems that things are getting a little bit tighter, so maybe we have to have these breakfasts a little more often, or come up with different ideas for fundraising."

Being able to allow kids to participate in sports makes for developing a more well-rounded person, said Bissonnette, as he spoke on the benefits of sports.

"Keeping kids involved in physical activity is not only good for them as far as their health, but also to keep them active in something that generates positive characteristics, whether it be self-confidence, or the ability to communicate with others, and build friendships, going forward I think it's pretty well believed that those kind of people turn into really good citizens."

Total donations are expected to calculated by the end of the week.