A smoky, woody glass of whisky and camaraderie with new friends is the atmosphere A League of Gentlemen, a new social club, wants to create to raise money for charity.
It’s a social club held at Spring Mill Distillery on July 4 from 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $100 and each attendee will get a free sample of whisky and a whisky expert will talk about tasting notes. Money raised will be donated to a local charitable organization.
David Coccia, creator of the club, first started volunteering 10 years ago. He was connected with a man named Andrew, who has autism and wanted to run. Coccia was part of the Guelph Victors and was happy to run or walk at 7:30 a.m. with his friend.
“It taught me that it’s good to do some good and good to be part of a community. As you get older there’s a lot of value in giving a little bit of your time,” said Coccia.
He had a conversation with his boss about giving back to the community and he suggested a social club as a way to get people together to donate.
Coccia said there will be three charities to choose from, the food bank and Wyndham House are guaranteed to be two of the options. There will be ballot boxes at the event and people can vote who they want as the charity to donate to.
He is hoping the event will be twice a year.
“The hope is it will be a cross section of different people,” said Coccia. He thinks connections are bound to be made, whether business or personal.
“Hopefully, people can leverage on top of the fact that they’ve done something good for their community.”
There won’t be any speeches, or promoting a person or a business. It’s supposed to be a fun social event.
Guelph isn’t unfamiliar with social clubs, 100 Men Who Give A Damn, called 100+ Guelph is a men’s social group who get together and donate $100, raising $10,000. Coccia said it would be great to collaborate with them in the future.
“I want this to be a little bit more rooted in the community both from the charity but also helping to grow Guelph businesses,” he said.
“I hope they get a sense of what I get when I go and hang out with my friend in the morning. It’s a feeling of doing something good.”
