The task of bringing people out of the woodwork to show their community spirit is tough for many local organizations, no matter the size. The great news is there’s one event that takes that struggle and turns it into an easy, breezy walk in the park.
This was the 10th year for the Roy Financial Mayor’s Walk for Charity. It’s the one event that goes the distance to create a reliable source of major fundraising for 35 groups. Michelle Radey, the executive director of the St. Albert Day Care Society, said it helps keep her organization alive and thriving. “It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year.”
Because the key to success with the walk is rallying the troops to your cause, the society has taken the opportunity presented and gone one step further by getting its diverse and spread-out members and supporters to come together like a big family reunion, all in the name of togetherness.
The mayor’s walk is not just about money: it’s about the big family of St. Albert. We don’t always know our neighbours and sometimes we neglect to show our best friends how much we care about them but there’s one time of the year when we can all come together, walk the same walk and spend a little time together in the spirit of building our community up.
Of course, when it comes down to the bottom line, Radey said that there’s nothing better. In all of her organization’s years of participating in the event, it has amassed tens of thousands of dollars to help pay for equipment and general operating costs. Last year, her team raised the most out of any other group, more than $10,000.
This year the Oblate Youth Ministries had the best result, raising about $15,000. Father Michael Dechant said the money would help the group with its ongoing outreach and education programs in the Catholic school district.
“We enable and empower students to take on a leadership role,” he said. In conjunction with those efforts the Oblate Youth Ministries will be sponsoring some local high school students to travel to New Orleans next year. They will visit an Oblate parish as part of a cultural learning expedition.
“It’s just giving them an opportunity to encounter students from another culture who’ve also been through a very traumatic and tragic experience with Hurricane Katrina.”
He indicated this was the fourth time his group had been in the mayor’s walk and they intend to return in 2011.
The final tally for pledges has not yet been calculated but organizer Heather McKinnon of St. Albert Parents’ Place called it a success. She said about 340 people represented 35 charities, some from outside St. Albert. The 2009 mayor’s walk brought in $112,000 for 35 groups, besting that year’s target of $75,000. This year’s target was $200,000.
To learn more, please visit www.royfinancialmayorswalk.com.
