Thick fog spread over much of the Edmonton Capital Region the morning of Friday, May 11 that cleared in time for teams to review the PJHA and be outfitted with their GoPros in the 14830 parking lot. Four teams raised at least $750 for Change for Children and were given a 15 minute Head Start – it’s now 8:45am… Amazingest Race 2018 is on!
To conquer this 8-hour event, 2-person teams needed to decipher ten route clues and overcome nine challenges to sprint to the finish line where Lee was waiting at the Wilfrid Laurier boat launch. Teams were tested on their knowledge of our newest Paragonians (hope they read those Welcome e-mails), challenged to show-off their booty-poppin’ dance moves (we have video footage of Blair, Scott & Konstantin), shoot an arrow just like Katniss Everdeen, secure a podium finish at Fast Track Go Karts (Diana’s real name is actually Danica Patrick), face their fears on the SkyFlyer zipline or MindBender roller coaster (Trevor blacks out when he’s upside down. Acrophobia has nothing to do with spiders Cortney), impress colleagues with poetry and artistry in an artistic representative of an original Haiku (Blair starts to get really competitive. Kahlie puts him on a Time-Out), due to time delays no one had to endure the library challenge, compile photo evidence of 10 scavenger hunt items around the Edmonton Valley Zoo (penguins are in the Antarctic, not the Arctic – but it has nothing to do with Clue 1 either way. Blair is getting angry. No one likes Lee’s clues. Scott and Eldon pull to the lead with a last-minute creative selfie with wood chips) and everyone’s favorite challenge Brain Buster (listing the challenges, by name, in the correct order – Barb made us do it) is the last stop before the finish line… Scott and Eldon serve the 15 minute Brain Buster penalty but still manage to secure 1st Place. Kayla & Katelyn W. use their Know it All card to bypass Brain Buster and secure 2nd Place. Cortney & Nancy stroll up in 3rd Place. Blair & Trevor take 4th (“4th is the WORST place to get” says Blair). Appetizers, cold beverages and a buffet dinner were waiting for participants, volunteers and guests back at the Zoo where guests had exclusive after-hours access to the animals.
It was another successful race, dare we say our best yet? Be sure to thank the volunteers – there were many, many route clues and challenges to plan, print, fold and stuff in envelopes (…360 to be exact).
2018 Fundraising Update – Change for Children
Many of you will remember our Nicaragua project from 2015/16. We raised over $30,000 toward the construction of two schools in the remote BOSAWAS biosphere reserve, and also sent a number of Paragonians to the area to lend our soil expertise to local agricultural efforts.
Fast forward two years and Paragon is taking on another corporate goal – this time in Guatemala! The Comitancillo region in the western highlands of Guatemala faces high rates of extreme poverty and malnutrition due to frequent disasters and an economic reliance on growing cash crops for export rather than for food. Farmers here are in need of monetary and technical assistance, as well as improved seeds and tools to make this region productive enough to feed its population and to produce export crops to diversify income and stimulate the economy. The project, again run by Edmonton charity Change for Children, includes nutrition and environmental education programs in schools and the establishment of school gardens and agricultural training for students. School gardens supply school lunches using produce from their gardens. This project benefits 5 schools (800 students) as well as 250 farming families (2000 people) who receive improved seeds, tools and training to improve agriculture and by extension nutrition in this region.
To find out more about our fundraising visit:
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/change-for-children/p2p/Paragon-initiative-2018/