The Grandparent’s Day Stroll-a-Thon and fifth annual Ball Drop were a huge success for Mont St. Joseph Home on Sunday.
This was the 26th Grandparent’s Day celebration and the most successful Ball Drop since the event started. Resource Development Coordinator Jessica Gale said staff and residents look forward to the event every year.
“Grandparents’ Day and our ball drop is one of our favourite fundraisers and it is because it brings our community into our home for our residents,” Gale said. “It is fantastic. I liken it to the old school, old time Christmases we used to have, where the house was busting at the seams, but everybody had the greatest time and you just made it work.”
Both inside and outside the home were packed with people on Sunday. Gale estimated they had around 500 people show up for the annual fundraiser.
“That amount of people coming to spend the day with us and the fact that we sold out for our annual ball drop (meant) not only did our foundation have an incredible fundraiser, but our residents are having an amazing day,” she said.
“It is impressive to see this many people. The only problem we tend to have is finding enough chairs. Who knew that we were going to have this kind of an afternoon with all the rain that they were calling for?”
The Ball Drop fundraiser saw 3,000 golf balls dropped from the top of a Prince Albert Fire Department ladder truck for three cash prizes. Last year Gale stated that the goal was a sellout 3,000 entries and they managed to hit that mark.
The first-place winner of $2,500 was Susan Tamarche. The second-place winner of $1,500 was Scott Gardiner and the third-place winner of $500 was Cheryl Smith.
There were some glitches along the way as the ball drop device did not open as expected and it took some extra time to sort through papers to locate the first place ball number.
Three balls all landed in the hole and by pulling the pin out, the winners were selected.
“You can’t have everything all at once. If we can get the excitement just to stretch out, there’s so much the better,” Gale said.
Along with the walk and ball drop, a whole array of activities were planned for the entire Mont St. Joseph’s family who were invited.
The day included music, face painting, games and a family barbecue. The entertainment was moved indoors due to what appeared to be a gloomy day in the morning.
“Well who knew that we were going to have this kind of an afternoon with all the rain that they were calling for,” Gale said.
The 3,000 golf balls dropped in Prime Minister’s Park on Sunday for Grandparent’s Day at Mont St. Joseph Home.
CEO Wayne Nogier picks the winning balls at the fourth annual Ball Drop at Prime Minister’s Park on Sunday.
Pattison Media as a platinum sponsor of the drop also donated $5,000 towards Grandparent’s Day with this year’s fundraising goal towards enhancing the dining experience.
“We actually have a multi-year project that we’re working on,” Gale said. “We are currently working to redesign our dining rooms and the way that we offer meals in the building. We’ve got 12 different spaces that we need to renovate so it’s a big project and it’s a big bill at the end.”
The community support for the event was amazing, according to Gale,
“When the community rallies behind us, like they do time and time again, it just shows us that it’s a dream that we’re going to make a reality and it’s all because of the community support,” she said.
This year there were 3,000 tickets sold for the Ball Drop, which raised more than $30,000.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
