Acton’s Own 'Bad Bev' Hailed as Community Champion by Rotary Club
Last night Rotary Club of Acton celebrated Beverley “Bad Bev” McKnight as their community champion. Rotary Club President Bill Vanderyt was on hand to make the presentation to Bev, where she was given a certificate, pin and flowers.
Over the past five years Bev has contributed over $40,000 to charities across Halton Hills, Ontario and Canada, from Sick Kids Foundation, the Terry Fox Run, The Salvation Army, the Acton Firefighters Association, Knox Presbyterian Church’s Kim Petty Fund and more.
You can often find Bev at various events from the Trunk Sale, to farmers’ markets, sitting at a table with her towels that she crochets herself.
When Acton UP asked Bev why she does what she does, she said, “When Jimmy, our son, was born with Spina bifida and water on the brain, so many people gave to us things for him we couldn’t afford. Braces, a wheel chair, leg braces, a walker that he never could use. I was overwhelmed. Jimmy spent twelve and a half years in and out of [Sick Kids] with twenty three operations. One year he was in sick kids. Ten months I lived there with him, slept in a chair. So one person asked me to make towels because her dog kept taking them off the stove. She said, why don’t you sell them? My answer was, who would buy? Boy, was I surprised.”
Since then, Bev has sold over a few thousand towels, by her own estimation. Bev says “People have been buying [towels] for teachers gifts, or for end of year, wedding showers, someone with a new home. The towels are a very good useful gift”.
Last year alone, Bev had raised $9,300. Bev tells Acton UP “It’s very slow this year. I hope I can match it”.
Bev sells her towels for $8, her dish clothes for $4 each, or 2 for $7. Beyond that she also sells slippers for $8. Bev mentions that wool is “getting up there in price”.
If you would like to buy a towel off of Bev and support her and her charity endeavours, you can either reach out to her through her Facebook page, or come to the Trunk Sale on Saturdays in the Olde Hide House parking lot.
Bev says, “I love to give. Trying to make a difference.”
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