Hi, my name is Tenille Townes and I’m so grateful to have witnessed what happens when music brings a group of people together. I started Big Hearts for Big Kids when I was 15, after hearing how many kids my age were turning to the Sunrise House, a youth shelter in my hometown Grande Prairie, Alberta. I put together a sponsor letter, had my mom drive me around until enough people said yes to participating, and invited a few of my music friends to help put on a show. The night of our first event, the shelter director came to me in tears explaining that the Sunrise House had to be shut down due to lack of funding.

We pushed on, and that evening we raised over $30,000. Funding from our first event kept the shelter doors open. We went from raising $30,000 that first night to $436,000 last year, totaling over $1,900,000 raised in 10 years.

Since re-opening, the Sunrise House has served over 12,000 bed nights for youth ages 12-17 looking for a safe place to turn to, where people believe in them and help them get back up on their feet.

History of years:

2010 - Over $30,000

2011 - Over $60,000

2012 - Over $104,000

2013 - Over $160,000

2014 - Over $195,000

2015 - Over $225,000

2016 - Over $225,000

2017 - Over $265,000

2018 - Over $240,000

2019 - Over $436,000
2020 (Virtual Event) - Over $86,000
2024 - $418,637.88