The organization of this event started in 2002 and has become an annual event here in Kingston, Ontario.
Several of us had attended, on various occasions, a large trivia fundraiser in Ottawa in support of children’s charities there. For several years we had hopes of conducting a similar event in Kingston, also in support of charitable causes. In 2002 we held discussions with one of our friends & co-workers, who, along with her family were interested in trying to raise money in support of certain agencies and groups to thank them for their support during the difficult period when they lost 8 year old Jason to Leukemia. This provided us with the drive to put together our first event in February of 2003 and to dedicate that inaugural event to Jason’s memory.
In that first attempt we managed to attract 14 teams, of 6 players a team, and we had net proceeds of $1,225. all of which was turned over to Camp Trillium (a camp for young cancer patients and their families) in Jason’s memory
Our second event was held in February of 2004 and this time we attracted 20 teams and we raised just under $1,600., all of which was again turned over to Camp Trillium, and again in memory of Jason.
Our third event was held on Feb. 19, 2005 and we grew to 29 teams and we were able to raise a total of $2,206. This time the proceeds were presented to the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit at Kingston General Hospital. As a result of that donation, the KGH Foundation honoured Jason’s memory by adding his name to their “memory” wall.
In 2006 we registered 36 teams and (with the help of a few generous donations) we raised a total of $3,500. for the Joint Advancement Foundation of the Kingston Hospitals, in support of the Child Life Program. With this donation, the Foundation again allowed us the opportunity to add a name to their “Memory Wall” to honour the memory of someone near and dear to us, so we chose to honour Barry, our friend and co-worker.
Year number 5 – February 17, 2007, again at Doffer’s. 29 teams registered and with donations we brought in $2,800., which again went to the Child Life Program. This brought our total raised to date to over $11,000.
In 2008 we registered only 24 teams – we were hurt by the introduction of a new “long” weekend, which didn’t exist at the time we booked the Hall. However we did bring in an even $2,000.
|
|
