It may be a little known and undocumented fact, but eating ribs has proven beneficial for local charities.  In fact, the benefit is in excess of $462,000 over the past ten years!

That’s when the Rotary Club of Guelph-Trillium launched Ribfest, a festival featuring rib vendors from across North America who compete for the “best ribs” while thousands of people enjoy a lip-smacking menu.

“Ribfest is a family event, intended to be a community party,” says past-Ribfest Chair, Bruce Folkard.  “Besides the ribs, there’s a kid’s area, great music, and a car show.”

And it is the community that benefits - thanks to the club’s efforts, a number of corporate sponsors and the 50,000 people who attend Ribfest - this year on August 22, 23 and 24.

Each year the money raised from Ribfest is divided between a variety of charities that apply to the club for assistance. The donations always come out of the previous year’s Ribfest so the club knows it can commit to the funding.

Charities funded out of money raised at Ribfest include:

Edward Johnson Music Foundation

Alzheimer Society of Guelph-Wellington

Canadian Diabetes Association - South Western Ontario

Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Guelph

Michael House Pregnancy Care Centre

Salvation Army Correctional and Justice Services

Welcome In Drop In Centre

Sunrise Therapeutic Riding Centre

Guelph Services for the Physically Disabled

Food and Friends Breakfast Program

Action Read

Wyndham House

Paint Your Heart Out

University of Guelph Scholarship Program

Camp Enterprise

Seniors Bingo

Some of the organizations that have received funding in the past

include:  Partners for Better Health Hospital Campaign, Guelph Hospice, Fred Black Scholarship (a Rotary scholarship for local youth headed for college),  PolioPlus (a Rotary International initiative to eradicate polio from the world), Guelph Fire Department, defibrillator campaign, Camp Enterprise (a Rotary sponsored entrepreneur camp for local high school students), Scouts Canada, and Guelph Community Foundation.

“There is no entrance fee or cover charge to attend Ribfest,” explains past Ribfest Chair Barry Walker. “A participation fee charged to the ribbers/vendors, proceeds from a Bavarian Garden, and donations contribute toward the earnings.”

Rotary is an international business club that originated in Chicago and now has clubs world-wide, four of them in Guelph.  Members are focused on three areas of service: community, international and vocational, as well as on the social aspects that come when business people work together in service.

One of the other Guelph-Trillium community projects, for instance, is called Paint Your Heart Out.  Members contribute a Saturday morning to complete outdoor spring-cleaning tasks for those in the community unable to do the work themselves.