Montreal’s Vanessa Grimaldi is putting her new-found celebrity status to good use. She was back in Montreal Sunday for the first ever No Better You fitness fundraiser.
Grimaldi who was featured on Season 21 of The Bachelor, walked away with the ultimate prize — the final rose and a proposal from American businessman and bachelor Nick Viall.
While she moved to Los Angeles after the show to be with her new fiancé, the former special education teacher at the Galileo Adult Education Centre, hasn’t abandoned the causes close to her heart.
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Sunday’s event raised $35,000 for local special needs schools.
More specifically, the funds will go towards building sensory rooms in Montreal-area schools.
“It’s a therapeutic space for students,” Grimaldi said. “It can help stimulate or calm students down.”
According to Grimaldi, the costs of opening up a sensory room range from $30,000 to $100,000 and not all schools have access to the same funding.
Grimaldi admitted that organizing the fundraiser from Los Angeles was challenging, but her fiancé said he’s not surprised she pulled it off.
“She was very focused on this from the very beginning,” Viall said.
“She’s put a lot of work into it so it’s nice to see it come to fruition, but I’m not surprised at all. I knew she’d do a great job even though she was a little worried.”
Grimaldi was grateful to those who came out.
“Look how Montreal came together for this to support such an amazing cause,” she told Global News.
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Participants had the chance to work out alongside Grimaldi and partake in a Q&A session with Viall.
If Grimaldi has her way, more fundraisers could be on the horizon.
“I hope this is the first of many,” she said.
For more information, visit the No Better You website.
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