WEYBURN – The Weyburn Communithon met and exceeded their fundraising goal on Friday night, finishing with a tally of $86,412 when they went off the air at 11 p.m. at the Weyburn Legion Hall, providing funds for the group's 10 community agencies.
The annual telethon went on the air at 8 a.m. with the opening ceremonies, including the annual presentation of a Communithon poem by Jean Fahlman, and the morning and afternoon were filled with live groups from the city’s schools.
This included bands and choirs from the Weyburn Comprehensive School, several choir groups from Legacy Park, Assiniboia Park and St. Michael Schools, then entertainment from the community, including dancers, singers and the Variations community choir.
Some of the special features included a Minute-to-win-it competition between the WCS Eagles football team and the Weyburn Gold Wings (won by the girls), and a Monster Mash dance with any children who came to the hall in their Halloween costumes.
Communithon chair Korryn Kubashek was pleased to see how the community came together to donate funds, their time as volunteers and to enable the fundraiser to exceed their target goal while on the air, without a bequest to put them over the top.
She noted it was nice to see new entertainment performers this year, including a new dance studio that brought some traditional dances from southern India to the stage.
She paid tribute to the small army of volunteers who worked behind the scenes to make sure everything went smoothly, many of whom no one ever saw on camera, from the people who made sure the large school groups got on and off stage safely and quickly, the camera operators and technicians, the announcers, the volunteers who took donations at the door, and those who helped with setup the night before and take-down after going off the air.
In mid-November, the organizing committee will meet and debrief, and will go over the things that went well and those aspects that need to changed or improved on for next year.
