On August 13, Royal Lepage Benchmark partnered with Lakewood of Strathmore hosted Strathmore Summer Fest. Today, the funds raised from that event were donated to the Wheatland Crisis Society (WCS). $1000 was donated, and WCS Business Development Specialist Natasha Fyfe said these funds will be a big help to the WCS.

"Any kind of donation is greatly appreciated in the times that we're in right now. Donations typically come into the shelter and they help with basic costs of living so it'll help with the residential side of the shelter, it'll help with food, basic needs, and keep our programs up and running. Not only for our residential clients but for our outreach clients," Fyfe said.

Royal Lepage Benchmark's Event Project Manager Amanda Bazant was one of Summer Fest's organizers, and she said the idea for a big community fundraiser came from previous events Lakewood of Strathmore held.

"Lakewood of Strathmore had a couple of block parties last year and they did a movie during covid and we partner with them for a lot of things. So we thought 'let's grow on that and make this a bigger event,' so this was actually a really cool collaboration with the community," Bazant said.

The community came together in a huge way to raise these funds for the WCS. Contributions from local businesses include, but aren't limited to:

  • Calgary Co-op did concession for movies
  • Royal Lepage Benchmark and Avenues to Acreages handled hot dogs
  • Strathmore Gymnastics brought a huge bouncy castle
  • Origins Malting and Brewing hosting a beer garden
  • Hunger Paynes brought their food truck

Bazant was thrilled with all the community support the WCS and the event received.

"It was great, and we also try to do so much for them (WCS) and we appreciate them so much, so it was great to see the community actually come out and have fun, all for a good cause. Everyone came out and it was a great event," she said.

There was a 50/50 draw as well, and the winner of that actually donated all of his winnings right back to the WCS. 

"That's amazing. When people win these types of things and give the money back it's always just a shock because times are tough, things are expensive, costs of living has increased. So for them to turn around and give it back to us, we are extremely grateful," Fyfe said.

At the end of the day, Fyfe was just happy to see the community come together again, after being unable to host events like this due to covid.

"It's really great that we're finally able to get back together and do something outside and have a great time and raise money for a great cause."

The next fundraiser for the WCS will be there annual gala.  Tickets for the gala are now on sale until September 25th for $65/ticket or $500 for a table of 8, afterward, the ticket price will be $75/ticket, tickets can be purchased online through the WCS website strathmoreshelter.com.

 

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