The Saskatchewan government is offering $500 through the affordability tax credit to eligible residents in the province this November.
A group of people is using this unexpected “bonus” as an opportunity to give back.
“Every adult in Saskatchewan being handed $500, that could be put to really good use. For some people that is paying the bills, buying the groceries, and that’s fantastic, and for others like me, it’s money I wasn’t missing, I wasn’t expecting and so I thought how can I use this in a different way,” said Nicole Berg, The 500 Club Founder.
The 500 Club is a new organization that is working to get 2,000 people to donate cheques of any size, to any charity.
“That’s the goal, everyone can kind of look to see what’s needed locally and give what they want to give,” said Berg.
One of the non-profits already seeing the impact of the 500 Club is the Saskatoon SPCA.
“$500 is a tremendous donation. In fact it’s almost the perfect amount, because that is how much it costs us to get animals ready for adoption,” said Trina Mortson, Saskatoon SPCA development director.
She says she’s grateful people are choosing to donate to them.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to know that people value the service we provide to the community. Animals are such an important part of everyone’s lives and so to know that people are thinking of us, and want us to be able to help animals in the community, means a lot to us,” said Mortson.
So far, almost $4,000 has been pledged to multiple charities in the province on their website, which means they still have a ways to go before they reach their $1 million goal.
“There’s a lot of goodwill in this province, a lot of will to help each other so this is one way to do it,” said Mortson.