Sudbury construction, trucking company honoured for helping city’s vulnerable

The Rotary Club Sunrisers have recognized a local company with its highest honour.

The Day Group, a local surface mining and transportation company, has been giving to the Elgin Street Mission since it opened 34 years ago.

One of then many donations made by the Day Group to the Elgin Street Mission in Sudbury over the last 34 years. (Supplied)

Thursday, the company was honoured for its generosity with the humanitarian Paul Harris Fellowship from the Rotary Club Sunrisers.

The company has donated $150,000 to the Elgin mission in the past five years.

"We are here to always give back to the community -- it’s something our father has taught us for many years," said Bart Day, vice-president of the Day Group.

"This is our 70th year that we are celebrating Day Construction so this is just another way for us to pay back to the community and to give back to the mission (and) people that are in need."

Gary Newbury, the founder of the Elgin Street Mission, said the Day Group was the first company to donate 34 years ago and that today the need is greater than ever.

"Right now it’s sad to say the most important thing is the drug addiction," Newbury said.

"How do we help them? That we would love to have the answer to. But it’s just to let them know that there is someone there who loves them and cares for them."

The mission offers breakfast and dinner and helps the vulnerable with basic needs. Officials said the generosity of the Day Group helps people who need it the most.

"Of course over the last few years we have seen those numbers increase and so it just helps with our daily operations providing food that our guests get to eat," said Amanda Labreche, director of the mission.

"We are serving between 150 for breakfast and over 200 for dinner daily."

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Officials with the Mission said it doesn’t receive any government money and relies solely on donations from the community, churches and companies to meet the increasing need.