Sleep Cheap gifts going to Niagara Falls grads

The Sleep Cheap Charities Reap Hotels & Attractions will distribute nearly 1,000 copies of a novel to every graduating high school student in Niagara Falls.

Sleep Cheap chairman Victor Pietrangelo said in addition to the money the annual event raises for local charities, the committee felt it was important this year to also do something even more tangible for the community.

The most recent Sleep Cheap event raised $142,349, which was granted to 20 organizations, as selected by an organizing committee.

But for the first time, some of the money was also used to distribute 912 copies of a novel called Fifteen Dogs, written by Canadian author Andre Alexis, to the five high schools in Niagara Falls.

There’s an inscription on the first page of the books that reads: “Graduation is a time to celebrate your achievements, prepare for a future of opportunities, and embrace a world of infinite possibilities. Best wishes from the 2017 Sleep Cheap Charities Reap Hotels & Attractions.”

Pietrangelo said he and the committee wanted to do something like this so that the community can “associate something tangible” with the Sleep Cheap name.

“I had said to the committee, ‘listen, you guys got such a great fundraiser here, you guys have raised a lot of money, but when you look around in the community, aside from the Gale Centre, I don’t see your name anywhere, and it’s nice to be able to associate something tangible with the name,’” said Pietrangelo.

“We kind of kicked around a couple ideas, and came up with this one. Obviously, there’s an education component to it. You’re giving the graduating students something that they could read and also something that they could keep, something that they could put on their shelf, so that they’ll have it and maybe a brother or sister will read it.”

He said the idea is to do this, or something similar, every year.

“I guess we’ll probably decide year to year whether it’s this or something else.”

More than $1.7 million has been raised through Sleep Cheap since the event’s inception in 2004.

During the 2016 event, which took place Nov. 13 to 17, many Niagara Falls hotels offered rooms to Niagara residents only at discounted prices.

The event again featured the sale of the WonderFalls pass.

It was an initiative recommended by Pietrangelo, who is a city councillor, with the goal of raising money to not only improve parks and playgrounds in Niagara Falls, but also to make them more accessible.

The pass provided residents across Niagara participating in Sleep Cheap the opportunity to visit some of Niagara Falls’ popular tourist attractions at a reduced rate.

The program ran for the same period as Sleep Cheap, and this time raised $18,380.

Since its inception in 2015, the WonderFalls pass has raised $39,330.

The Sleep Cheap annual fundraiser is co-ordinated by the municipality in co-operation with members of the city’s tourism industry.

Grant recipients are required to submit applications for funding each year.

Applications are reviewed and recipients are selected by an organizing committee made up of a councillor, city staff and tourism operators.