By Mark Allan
The Comox Valley Child Development Association hopes you can help it celebrate the 40th anniversary of its telethon.
The annual event, scheduled for Nov. 1 at the Sid Williams Theatre, is the biggest fundraiser of the year to help operate the Comox Valley Child Development Centre.
The people who offer services to assist developmentally challenged children and their families are asking you to add some new pre-telethon fundraisers.
“We have a lot of long-standing groups that are going to do the same fundraisers they have done for a long time,” says CVCDC executive director Joanne Schroeder.
The Baynes Sound Lions, who trundle a wheelbarrow full of donations up Highway 19A and present the money during the telethon, run the best-known existing fundraiser.
CVCDA president Pam Crowe thanks people who have supported the cause in the past, citing the Tin Grin Cup golf tournament run for a decade by dentist Paul Helpard at Shoreline Orthodontics.
Other Shoreline fundraisers have been the Great Brace and Dentistry in Denim.
The Triple Trouble Comedy Showcase is a fundraiser that began last year that will be repeated this year, Schroeder says.
It happens Sept. 19 at the Filberg Centre in Courtenay. An evening of comedy and music from Kenny Shaw, Todd Butler and John Reynolds includes a meal.
The event is organized by the Royston-Cumberland Lions. Tickets cost $30 and are available at the CVCDC at 237 Third St. in Courtenay.
Comox Rotarians annually donate $5,000 from their annual Ducky 500 event on Canada Day and service clubs hold other events to help raise operating funds.
“Artist Judi Wild is going to donate a print of a very lovely piece she has called the Spirit Bear for everyone who donates at least $540,” Schroeder adds as an example of a new fundraiser.
The association hopes it can crack the $100,000 mark this year, which would be a substantial increase from the $85,000 collected in 2014.
One suggested fundraiser is Brown Bag Mondays in which people would bring lunch to work for a few weeks and donate what they would have spent buying lunch.
Other suggestions include a walk, run or jump for the kids; an old-fashioned bake sale; being baggers for a day at a grocery store; a board game tournament; a dog wash; an auction for lunch with the boss; a bucket to collect donations from your customers; a dance-a-thon; yard cleanups and a spelling bee.
If you have questions or an idea for a fundraiser, contact Joanne Schroeder at 250-338-4288, ext, 233, or e-mail her at joanne@cvcda.ca.
Mark Allan is a freelance writer and a former editor of the Comox Valley Record.