UNITY—The province of Saskatchewan came together once again, raising more than $5.7 million during the annual Telemiracle telethon on March 1 and 2. Over the weekend, Kin Clubs, schools and individuals from the west central region of Saskatchewan got to be a part of the experience by walking the stage and donating the funds they had raised, totaling more than $39,800.
In the communities of Luseland and Wilkie, students at the elementary schools were in full fundraising mode prior to the annual telethon.
The Luseland School SRC set a goal of $2,000, with a total of $6,129 being raised in memory of fellow student, Dominic Gardeski, who passed away in December 2024 at the age of 14. Included in their total was a donation from the Luseland Credit Union for $1,500.
Norman Carter Elementary School in Wilkie held a variety of events, including bake sales, candygrams, cookie and hot dog sales and the selling of Helping Hands, for a total of $2,469.88.
Throughout the Cut Knife and Neilburg area, Andrea Stewart started collecting donations after hearing she would be performing on stage with her spoken word poetry and with the Battlefords Blend acapella group. She did a few performances in the area before Telemiracle, collecting more than $3,000, which was doubled as Nutrien pledged to match all donations up to $100,000 from the Saskatchewan talent.
The Kerrobert Kinettes added another $1,000 to the total from the Festival of Trees at Christmas. This was the club’s first year of taking on the fundraiser, with organizations and individuals purchasing a tree to be decorated however they would like. The trees were then put on display for an evening, where spectators could vote with cash donations for their favourite and the tree that made the most in donations was declared the winner.
The community of Macklin rallied behind their local Kinette Club, who attended the telethon, with a donation totaling $11,509.73. This total came from the Kinette’s hosting two bingos over the year, a toy bingo around Christmas and Banger Bingo at Valentine’s Day. The students at Macklin School also added their fundraising efforts to the total
The Kin Club of Unity presented the Kinsmen Foundation with a donation totaling $15,744, which was an accumulation of multiple donations. The club fundraised with Bad Caroling again before the Christmas holidays and the Unity Miners Hockey Club donated their portion of their 50/50 draw to Telemiracle this year. They also received an additional $5,000 from other donations from within the community.
All three schools contributed to the cause as well. The high school held a dessert auction, popcorn and pop sale and sold Helping Hands. The Unity Public School had a variety of events and fun days with the popular ‘Torture the Teacher’ back in play. If students raised $1,000, one staff member volunteered to be tortured. At the $1,500 mark, two staff members were up on the chopping block and at $2,000, three staff members would be put through the paces. At St. Peter’s School, students participated in their annual basketball shoot-a-thon, sold helping hearts and did a toonie roll.
Unity student wins colouring contest
The Kinsmen and Kinettes held their second colouring contest prior to Telemiracle weekend, with students submitting their artwork by Jan. 24. On March 1, the winners were announced in both age categories, with Grade 1 student at St. Peter’s School Dulcissima Ogrodnick winning in the younger age group.
The seven-year-old said her teacher, Mrs. Donna Jackson provided the colouring pages—and some time to complete them—to her students before submitting them to the Kinsmen Foundation. According to Ogrodnick’s mom, Lauren, the student was eager to work on the page the day she got it, saying she stayed up later than usual and didn’t do her reading homework that night.
Ogrodnick was told the night before Valentine’s Day by her mom, who had received the news by email.
“I was surprised. I told Mrs. Jackson the next day I won and she said she was proud of me,” said the Grade 1 student.
Ogrodnick won a prize pack from Saskatchewan based company, Start Right Supplies, which included crayons, pencil crayons, markers, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpener, a colouring book, sticker book and sketch pad.
