For those of you that really, really care about the St. Francis Memorial Hospital in Barry’s Bay but also want to have some fun, clap your hands.
The first annual KAPOA – Valley Gazette – SFMH Foundation Charity Annual Poker Run hopes to encourage hospital foundation donations, then these donors (and you too, hopefully) get to spend some quality time on their boats with family and friends, with a destination and a purpose. With a minimum $200 donation, with all qualifying entry donation proceeds going 100% directly to the hospital, boatloads of up to six people, may participate, all at no charge, as in ‘for free’. Your donation gets spent by the Hospital Foundation, entirely on new instruments and equipment, not labour, buildings, administration, or other costs already paid by the province.
With a Kamaniskeg map in hand, participating boats will start from the Barry’s Bay dock at 10:00am Sunday July 28, visit seven docks, pick up one playing card at each dock, then from the cards available, make up the best five card poker hand. It’s not a race, but more a leisurely boat ride around the lake.
At a secret location to be shown on the map, at the end of the event, there will be an awards ceremony – BBQ, expected to start at about 2:00pm. All participants will receive prizes and the best winning hands will do even better.
There will also be entertainment including demonstrations of wake surfing, wake-board freestyle riding and wake-board rail-slide jumping.
This event is being jointly produced by two organizations well known to the community, namely The Valley Gazette newspaper, and the Kamaniskeg Area Property Owners Association (KAPOA), so you can be confident your hard earned entry donations will flow directly and entirely to the hospital foundation. For example, your entry cheques are actually made out to the SFMH Foundation, not the paper or association. Actually and more accurately the “St Francis Memorial Hospital Foundation’s Family helping Family Campaign” but we’ll try to get a short form or abbreviation, or else you may have to get larger cheques.
A maximum of thirty boats will be accepted to participate the first year, so first come – first served. Interested parties are invited to contact us at pokerrun@kapoa.ca. Advance Registration forms should be available after July 6 so don’t miss out on the fun and excitement.
The Foundation works with many individuals, agencies, businesses and various municipal governments in their efforts to raise funds towards their buying new instruments & equipment objective, and this Poker Run is one piece of the overall plan. The Foundation also wishes to communicate that this is the community phase for its current Campaign. The overall goal is to raise 1.2 million dollars for hospital equipment that includes new digital main and mobile X-Ray machines. It recently announced the achievement of reaching its one million dollar mark, so the community phase right now has a goal to raise the remaining $200,000.
You can obtain further information by contacting the Foundation directly at 613-756-3045 ex 333 or foundation@sfmhosp.com. The Foundation will also have additional information available at the Poker Run registration desk as well as at the end of event awards ceremony – BBQ. So come one, come all and have a good time. Boating – Friendship – Food – Entertainment and the good feeling knowing you have helped preserve SFMH to serve our community as well as ourselves, should all contribute to everyone having a great mid-summer day. Remember to contact pokerrun@kapoa.ca after July 6 and mark July 28 on your calendar.
