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VENTUREPAGE 13

07 | 28 | 2012VOLUME 17 | ISSUE 33

KUNKEL BUS LINES OPENS DEPOT IN ELMIRA

ELENA MAYSTRUK

ELENA MAYSTRUK

Kin Club event raises $60K for charities WCS planning ladies’ night out activities at its Elmira thrift store

Amazing Race, enjoys expanded participation numbers, corporate sponsors

AMAZING RACE | 2 WCS | 2

Last weekend marked Family Fun Weekend’s twelfth year in West Montrose. On Saturday the Grand River Amazing Race consisted of 32 teams and raised $42,435 in pledges for four different causes, bringing them just a short of dou-bling the amount raised by 25 teams last year.

“That‘s without selling one carnival pass, without selling a hotdog or a silent auction. That’s just the racer’s pledges online prior to the event. We hope to gross close to $60,000,” said Kin Club of Wool-wich president Bill McBay during the race.

By the time kitchens closed that night, the gross total from the Family Fun Weekend and the Amazing Race came to $59,841.

Running alongside the Family Fun Weekend at the West Montrose Family Camp, a majority of racers collected funds for Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region, but the Family and Counselling Centre of Cambridge and North Dumfries, the Kissing Bridge Trail Association and Woolwich Community Services were also represented. Racers ended the competi-tion with a number of activities. Teams of two pulled their canoes to shore before entering the last stages of the competi-tion. They then ran through an obstacle course of tangled string carrying water glasses and slid down a soapy slip and slide before entering the home stretch.

A boost in the number of volunteers seems to have put the event on the radars of bigger companies, and McBay was happy to see that this year marked a rise in corporate sponsorship of the event. As a result, racers not only raised pledge money online but also received corporate

Woolwich Community Services is calling on locals to shop for a good cause. The WCS is holding a ladies night at the Woolwich Thrift Shop inviting visitors for an evening of door prizes, gift certificates and live music inside the store.

WCS representative Leigh-Anne Quinn said the thrift shop is one of the organiza-tion’s most successful year-round fundrais-ing ventures, with all profits going back into various programs.

The shop’s popularity encourages the WCS to keep an eye out for interesting event ideas. When the organization was approached by Mary Kay Consultant Abbey Martin and esthetician Megan Sheeringa, the idea for a ladies’ night began to take form, she added.

“We always look for fun things to do in the store. We were actually approached by Abby Martin and Megan Sheeringa about partnering with us in some way. As we got to chatting we thought it would be really nice to have a ladies’ night at the store where all women’s clothing is 50 per cent off and then they can come in and also provide their service for free, kind of as a pampering night,” said Quinn.

The event will run on Aug. 1 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Thrift Shop on 48 Arthur St. S. and will feature women’s clothing and accessories sold at half price as well as com-plimentary professional beauty treatments. Quinn said some products like brand name apparel and accessories have been reserved for the event. Any funds raised will go towards various WCS services such as Woolwich food bank, the family violence Amazing Race competitor Sarah Bryson goes through an obstacle course near the finish line, trying to get through without spilling the water

glasses in her hands. The event was part of last weekend’s Kin Club activities in West Montrose. [ELENA MAYSTRUK / THE OBSERVER]

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Broker of record Bonnie Brubacher (right) and broker Schanna Rozema hand Don Harloff of Woolwich Community Services a donation of $4,460 at the Royal LePage building in Elmira July 20. [ELENA MAYSTRUK / THE OBSERVER]

Brooklyn Husk enjoys one of the inflatable games set up for kids during the Family Fun Weekend. Right, Dana Passmore, 14, gives a solo performance. [ELENA MAYSTRUK / THE OBSERVER]

prevention program and the youth centre.

Martin and Sheeringa will be offering their services, providing hand treatments and nail painting. Martin will also be handing out Mary Kay samples to visi-

money for wearing compa-ny logos during the race.

“I’m pretty excited to look back and see where it’s come from. To see all of the corporate names is amazing. Companies are seeing now that this is a viable event to come out and promote their staff and their staff’s families. The whole idea is to get families out here and to see them having fun, and now corporations are start-ing to see that. We have a couple of companies that are using our event as their company family barbeque picnic and we invoice them at the end of the night based on how many

tors, promoting another fun-draiser affiliated with her company. Throughout the evening Sheeringa will be accepting donations for nail painting and organizers are also asking for donations of clothing, gently used house hold items and books.

people show up,” McBay said.

Last year’s Amazing Race volunteers were largely made up of the Kin Club committee acquain-tances. This time around McBay explains the orga-nization has taken greater strides to promote the event to all members of the local community and it seems two teams have tied for this year’s grand prize. Having both raised $7,200 in pledges the two teams get to spend a weekend in comfortable trailers that come complete with hot tubs.

The Family Fun Week-end included the usual children’s’ carnival rides,

FROM | COVER

FROM | COVER

WCS: Thrift shop seeking donations

AMAZING RACE: Family Fun Weekend has evolved through its 12-year history

Quinn explained that Martin approached WCS with a plan to create a series of “Looking Good and Giv-ing Back” events that will involve showcasing various Mary Kay products and do-nating 25 per cent of all sales to WCS efforts.

food stations and a stage for local musicians. Sat-urday’s event featured a lineup of youth perform-ers playing either solo or as a band. New food items were available as well and McBay says additions to the event’s menu were worth losing a few hours of sleep over:

“The whole internal workings of the race are different every year. We added French fries to our menu and we added breakfast. I was out flip-ping bacon this morning at 6 a.m. and doing some French fries at midnight last night. Those two items have helped make it some-thing for everybody.”

Top, Racers Michelle De-Jong (front) and Kendra Ainlay run to the finish line while children spray them with squirt guns. Above, Ronda Washington slides over a soap-covered slip-and-slide, during the last challenges of the Amazing Race. [ELENA MAYSTRUK / THE OBSERVER]