Murder mystery raises $40,000 for Sarnia-area affordable housing efforts

A group of Rotary Club of Sarnia members advocating for local affordable and supportive housing raised $40,000 at a recent sold-out murder mystery dinner fundraiser.

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“We had a packed house. . . (and) a lot of run with the Theater Sarnia folks” who staged the murder mystery evening for an audience of more than 250 at DeGroots Nurseries, said Michael John Kooy, a member of the group with John DeGroot, Heather Martin and Brian Mundt.

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“This shows how much this community cares about getting housing for people who need it,” said Martin, who organized the fundraiser with Marie Marcy-Smids and other volunteers

The evening also included “serious discussion about what we’re there for,” Kooy said.

With the event’s proceedings, about $140,000 has been raised and set aside with the Rotary Club of Sarnia Foundation for affordable housing.

“Housing is a complicated issue and there are many ideas out there,” club president Mark Taylor said in a release. “We know one thing for sure – we need to help those in need.”

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The group plans another fundraiser this summer and continues to encourage community support for affordable housing, Kooy said.

Since the group formed in 2023. hosting a supportive housing documentary screening and public discussion at the Sarnia Library Theater in June, the community has taken steps to respond to a growing number of locals who are homeless or struggling to afford a safe place to live.

Sarnia council offered a downtown parking lot for new affordable housing and Lambton County council recently backed a plan to pursue affordable and supportive housing projects at five potential sites, including the city lot.

County council set itself an ambitious goal of having the first project in place within 18 months.

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More details of a housing proposal for county-owned land on Sarnia’s Kathleen Avenue are expected at a county council committee meeting next week.

Facing a shortage of affordable and supportive housing, and a growing number of unhoused people, county council in July declared providing affordable housing and shelter its No. 1 priority.

Since then, the county has provided up to $200,000 each in seed funding for five local not-for-profit groups start planning other potential affordable housing projects.

“We’re community advocates and . . . a hub for people in the community who might have an idea for a project,” Kooy said of the Rotary group, which isn’t proposing a housing project of its own.

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Instead, the group aims to “galvanize public support” for responding to the need for more affordable and supportive housing, he said.

“We know the Sarnia Community Foundation also has a fund going,” Kooy said. “We’re offering the public multiple ways to engage and start putting money aside because we know that any project will need some input from charity.”

The group also is working to raise awareness about the need, Kooy said.

“Given the right support and given a compassionate response to particularly the housing need, but also the need for community, folks can find their way to put themselves on their feet,” he said.

When the group looks at how other communities are responding, they have municipally owned affordable housing and non-profits stepping up to build and run housing.

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One example is an apartment building with affordable units added a few years ago next to Vision Nursing and Rest Home on Wellington Street in Sarnia, Kooy said.

His group will encourage municipalities “to look at how they can provide further seed funding to the not-for-profit sector to help get some of those projects going,” he said.

Local funding is needed to access federal and provincial money to build new housing, he said.

Kooy said the group “commends” the county for recently backing the plan for new public affordable housing. “They’re obviously making this the priority they said they were going to.”

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