Weyburn鈥� Weyburn鈥檚 Dan Cugnet better have his cellphone charged on Aug. 24. In fact, he better take one of those battery chargers along, too.
That鈥檚 because Cugnet, along with hopefully four other people, will be deposited at a site somewhere on the prairie near Saskatoon as part of STARS air ambulance鈥檚 third annual Rescue on the Prairie.
The fundraiser is modelled on the 鈥渏ail and bail鈥� fundraiser, but much larger scale. Participants are taken out by one of STARS鈥� helicopters to a location on the prairie where they take part in challenges and make calls to people they know, trying to raise a minimum of $50,000 each for STARS, according to Mark Oddan, communications lead with STARS and its foundation. Once they reach their goal, they can be 鈥渞escued,鈥� again, by helicopter.
鈥淲e fly them to an undisclosed location,鈥� he said. The participants have their cellphones and address books.
鈥淲e recruit influential community leaders,鈥� Oddan said, adding they can start fundraising before the actual day. One person, for instance, did small fundraisers like bake sales for weeks before the actual event.
The challenges participants take part in are related to STARS鈥� work and include medical challenges. Oddan said it was a whirlwind of activity in a day.
Ron Carson participated in 2015 and came up big, raising $217,000, around half the $440,000 total that year. Last year Rescue on the Prairie raised $525,000 in Saskatchewan. Similar events take place in Alberta and Manitoba as well.
Oddan said it鈥檚 nice to get a mix of people and backgrounds.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited about this year,鈥� he said.
Cugnet, a part-owner in Valleyview Petroleum, is pretty pumped about participating. 鈥淚t was something I was interested in doing, to help out a fantastic organization,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t has a direct impact on all of us, whether we know it or not.鈥�
To contribute to Cugnet's rescue, click . 聽
http://support.stars.ca/site/TR?px=1005083&fr_id=1180&pg=personal
