$6,500 raised for splash park project in Rivers

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By Jen Brown

Submitted article

Saturday, July 18 was a big success for Riverdale Splashpark Committee, which hosted a fundraising auction and social. This day at Riverdale Community Centre included family/children’s events and a barbecue supper, which was provided by Rivers and Area Lions Club.  Profits from supper stayed in the Lions’ coffers but the rest of the proceeds from the day went directly to the splash park. It was amazing to see a community pull together for a special cause!

Huge thanks are due to everyone who supported us whether it was through donations, purchasing tickets, attending and/or volunteering. We received amazing prize donations, along with cash donations, and had a great turn-out throughout the day. We even received a live horse to auction off!  

We opened at 2 p.m. and started our silent auction, larger-item auction and Chinese auction, all of which continued until midnight, except for a few kids’ prizes that were drawn for earlier, following supper. The afternoon was free to attend and there were people coming and going all day. We were able to show the 7.5-minute video Warren Smallwood created for the Manitobaville contest, and we are very pleased with the job he did! As of Aug. 7, we made it to the Top 10, so please vote and help us in the chance to win $25,000 towards our splash park!  

It was nice to see kids partaking in the games and activities, such as face painting, nail-painting, dancing, hoola-hooping and bubble-fun, just to name a few. Kids also had a chance to guess how many candies were in various jars and containers, and win the goodies therein if theirs was the closest guess — this was a big hit! Thanks to the ladies who helped run and supervise the kids’ area! 

The social started at 9 p.m. with disc jockey services provided by Unique Sound. Various community members helped work the door, bar, ticket sales and kept everything running smoothly. A hot dog lunch helped wrap up the night; we hope everyone was happy with their prizes and that a good time was had by all who came out!

Committee members gathered early that morning to prepare and setup, and stayed well after everyone else to clean up the rink into the wee hours. It was a long day, but we were happy with the outcome! We raised approximately $6,500 towards our splash park throughout the entire day, which included a $1,000 donation from Westoba Credit Union.

Please remember the efforts this committee puts into such events and planning, and help us continue to progress towards our ultimate goal — a splash park for the Riverdale area. We can’t succeed without your help, and we truly appreciate the support we’ve already seen! Remember to visit any number of websites to vote for us in the Manitobaville contest. Voting closes at noon on Friday, Aug. 21 so time is truly of the essence. Of the 23 videos received, we were selected on quality and project worthiness to make the Top 10, now we need online votes to prove to judges we have plenty of support for our project. Please visit CTV Winnipeg, 96.1 Bob FM (Brandon), 101.1 The Farm, TSN Radio Winnipeg, 99.9 Bob FM (Winnipeg) or Winnipeg Virgin Radio websites to cast your vote.You can vote once a day on each website from each valid email address. If you have a work email, personal email and family email and vote from all three at all websites, you alone can cast 18 votes per day! Please continue to give us your support; this venture costs you nothing but a little bit of time.