Red Willow Place is hoping to help Seniors at Risk at a Fire and Ice fundraising event on Friday.
Fire and Ice is the inaugural event as part of the Recognition 2016 series which is developed to celebrate exceptional achievements in St. Albert and Alberta.
“This is going to be a phenomenal way to show people our facilities,” Tom Clarke, vice president of the seniors association said.
The event features two speakers who have overcome challenges relating to 2016 fires, and one who has shown exceptional athletic performance on the ice.
The first speaker, Jim McLeod, led the team that was responsible for replacing the CN railway bridge in Mayorthorpe after it was destroyed by a fire set by an arsonist. The team worked around the clock to replace the bridge in 20 days.
Following McLeod, Eric Bone will take the stage. Bone was the team leader for the group that was responsible for evacuating about 100 patients from the Fort McMurray hospital. They moved patients to an oilsands camp in two hours, before the fire engulfed the city.
Finally St. Albert’s Marc Kennedy, the vice-skip on the Alberta championship curling team, will take the stage. He was part of the team that won the 2016 Canadian Curling Championship. Kennedy also won an Olympic Gold Medal in 2010.
Proceeds from the event will go towards helping Seniors at Risk, a service that targets ways to assist seniors to reduce the effects of isolation when residing in their own residences.
“Most of them are people that are still living in their own suite or their own house,” Clarke said. “They just sit there and stagnate and they lose all of that social contact. We are trying to provide the means for them to come.”
The event will also be a chance to show off the new facilities at Red Willow Place, which has been open for over a month.
Clarke said that since the move into Red Willow Place the membership has almost doubled and many of those coming to socialize are those who are at risk for isolation.
The event runs on Friday Oct. 21 from 9 a.m. until noon. Tickets cost $40 for members of the St. Albert Seniors Association and $50 for non-members.
A lunch inspired by the fire and ice theme will be included and provided by the facility’s new Red Seal chef.
Tickets can be purchased at Red Willow Place between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. The deadline to purchase tickets is Tuesday Oct. 18 at noon.
