Where would you go if you could have dinner anywhere in the world?
Local residents had the chance to dream that dream—with the possibility of it becoming a reality—in the Kiwanis Club of Huntsville Muskoka’s most recent fundraiser.
A ticket in the club’s Dinner Draw offered the chance to win one of three prizes: a grand prize of dinner for two anywhere in the world ($6,500 travel voucher from Godfrey’s Travel in Huntsville, plus $2,000 cash for dinner, land transportation and accommodations); second prize of a dinner and stay at Hidden Valley Resort (two nights’ accommodation and dinner for two at Birches Restaurant); or third prize of a dinner for two at a restaurant anywhere in Muskoka ($300 voucher for the winner’s restaurant of choice in Muskoka).
Three lucky winners were drawn on June 6 at Partners Hall:
1st Prize: Klaus Regert, Utterson
2nd Prize: Heather Wyatt, Brantford
3rd. Prize: Colleen Cribbett, Guelph
The funds raised—about $3,000—will support local YWCA Girlz Unplugged and Boys Quest programs as well as Salvation Army Youth Programs.
Rick Brooks, the local Kiwanis charter’s secretary and membership chair, says that the club has been blessed so far in its inaugural year.
“The support from the community has been wonderful, the acceptance of Kiwanis, our primary focus being youth and children’s programs, has been quite humbling as well,” said Brooks. “Our ability to partner and be accepted by not only the community but also the established service clubs has been so encouraging.”
He added that the club’s members have thus far supported the YWCA Muskoka ‘Circles’ initiative and their Christmas event, entered an excellent float in the Santa Claus Parade, and initiated involvement with the Muskoka Maple Festival by hosting the inaugural Kiwanis Kids Sap Run which he says was a great success. “We then had a wine night at the Norsemen Restaurant and through that were able to present the Huntsville Public School with a cheque for $2,000 to go towards the Accessible Playground Fund….at that same presentation President Brittany Robbins presented the school with their ‘Buddy Bench’, a program that we will expand throughout Muskoka over the coming years.” The club is also sponsoring the Huntsville Theatre Company’s ‘Theatre is my Passion’, a free after-school program for children aged 8-17.
“The latest event, and one that we are most proud to be involved with, is the announcement of the scholarship at Huntsville High School in the name of Brenda Wainman Goulet, mother of our President-Elect Halley Clover,” says Brooks. “This scholarship will be presented to a graduating student taking Visual Arts, who will continue in the arts at a post-secondary institution. The award winner will be selected based on the student’s body of work over their secondary school career, having been acknowledged as having a superior gift of expression and artistic flair for the arts—as Brenda did.”
The Kiwanis Club of Huntsville Muskoka launched in October 2017. The service organization, which focuses on projects and fundraising to meet the needs of children, has more than 600,000 members in 80 countries around the world. You can follow them on Facebook here.
“This has certainly been a positive start for our club and one to build upon,” said Brooks. “Having said that, more members will allow us to do more and be better able to keep our members engaged without the risk of burning them out. This is a concern with all service clubs or volunteer-based groups and one we need to be cognizant of.
“There is so much more that we’d like to do, it takes time, resources and like-minded people.”
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