After a difficult fundraising year, the Prince Albert chapter of KidSport plans to turn to a familiar fundraiser to help make up the difference.
The organization lost major fundraising opportunities after National KidSport Month events were cancelled in May due to COVID-19. The organization now finds itself trying to raise around $10,000, and they’re hoping to put a major dent in that number with their annual Scissor Lift Camp Out event at Dr. Java’s on Thursday.
KidSport committee member Dwight Bergstrom step into the lift at 8 a.m. If more than $4,000 in donations roll in, he’ll spend the night up there too.
“It’s a fun day if the weather’s decent,” Bergstrom said with a chuckle during an interview on Monday. “I seem to have annoyed quite a few people in PA because I have a lot of them come by honking their horns and shaking their fists, and more importantly, making donations to make me stay up there overnight.”
Bergstrom hopes Prince Albert residents will do everything they can to hit that fundraising goal, especially since they don’t know exactly how many funding applications they’ll receive this winter.
KidSport provides families with up to $500 for a child to play sports, and the fall and winter seasons are where they see the highest demand. For most of the summer, the organization didn’t even know if fall and winter youth sports would happen, Bergstrom explained. Now that they’re hear, the organization is scrambling to raise as much money as possible.
“Even in a good year of fundraising, we do not raise enough money to approve every application that comes in,” he said. “It’s still a bit of a crapshoot here as to how comfortable people feel about registering their kids for these sports, and putting them in contact with other kids. If the fundraising is what we’ve got to date, and we have applications come in like we had last year for fall and winter, we’re probably $50,000 behind.”
KidSport plans to take donations outside Dr. Java’s, but they’re encouraging as many people as possible to donate online at www.kidsportdonations.ca/scissorlift. Any donors who give $20 or more will receive a tax receipt. Social distancing requirements will be in effect.
“I’m hoping that some of the businesses and different organizations that supported us back in May, that we haven’t solicited yet, that they step up and help us get going here,” he said. “It’s just a good cause.”
The 2020 KidSport Scissor Lift fundraiser begins at 8 a.m. at 425 15th Street East on Thursday, Sept. 24.