Armed with a hockey stick and ice bucket, volunteers with the Kal Rotary Club stayed social distanced while collecting cash for the Kal Rotary Dream Fund Saturday.
The club’s annual Dream Auction went online this year due to COVID-19, raising $70,000 in its first six weeks. As a final fundraising push, volunteers held a drive-thru donation collection in Vernon from 2-4 p.m. Nov. 21.
The team was stationed in the Kal Tire Head Office parking lot, where they offered hot chocolate and other giveaways to supporters who made donations from the comfort of their vehicles.
” We’ve been really amazed at the community involvement so far,” said Brian Reid, chair of the 2020 Dream Fund.
The Dream Auction typically raises about $250,000 to support the rotary club’s activities, which include feeding North Okanagan children through the Starfish Backpack Program, building water parks, skateboard parks and bike trails, funding hospital towers and low-income housing and facilitating kitchen renovations and transportation for those in need.
“Obviously we’re going to be a little short of (our goal) this year,” said Reid, adding the fundraiser had raised about $90,000 as of Saturday afternoon. “We’re hoping to get to over $100,000 today.”
The Rotary Club said that although it can’t host its usual event in its typical format due to provincial health orders, the need for the service club’s resources has only grown.
“Now, more than ever, Kal Rotary is committed to finding ways to continue to build strong communities,” Reid said.
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