1st of the two summits achieved!

This project all started when I attended the CARE presentation at the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa 'way back. It seems so long ago I can barely remember (although it was but 2-months). I recall saying that evening to CARE's Andrea Seymour that I felt there were two peaks to climb: Kilimanjaro and the raising of the $5,000. I spent many a sleepless night wondering how I was going to accomplish this. My wife, Pina, first came up with the concept of contacting Connie Johnston about holding a Trivia Night at our local pub. Much later, I was on one of my afternoon village walks and noticed my old friend Edna Robinson unlocking the door of the pub and I thought I'd go in and say "hi" and have a beer (she usually wasn't open during my walks). We started having a chat about old times and asked me what I was up to lately and I mentioned the Kili climb. Edna then suggested contacting Connie and holding a fund raiser. Wow! I had actually forgotten about Pina's suggestion and now Edna brought it up. We were on! From that afternoon I spent a *lot* of time on the phone, sending emails and visiting local businesses coordinating the Trivia Night. Pina said she would donate paintings for the auction. Local artists Stephanie Wellman and Paul Schibli also volunteered work to be auctioned. Wow! The ball was really rolling. Local businesses were fantastic in bringing forth auction items: really great stuff was to be had! Our incredible village doctor, Gerry Heymans, bought two pieces of Paul Schibli's work and donated them to the auction! Pina's friend, Diane Ceponkus brought over two wonderful gift baskets to add to the pile. With all of this outpouring, and the number people contacting me, I knew we were in for a great night.

And what a night it was! Both Connie and Edna each snuck in two extra teams bringing our total number of competing trivia teams to twenty! Two more than the maximum 18! As the start time approached we sadly had to turn away two more teams that showed up without registering. Connie Johnston had things really rolling with her fun & challenging and sometimes downright difficult trivia questions. Terry Sametz did a fantastic job as auctioneer squeezing every dollar he could from each and every item. Edna & Terry Robinson's staff at the Russell House were so smooth at their delivery everyone kept focused on the evenings events.

There is so many people to thank for this great success, but the ones I want to thank most are the wonderful people who turned out at the Russell House this past Saturday and supported the event. The evening brought in:

$4,255!!!

I'm off to the bank this morning to deposit this and together with the $1,185 that I have already entered as my contribution to the climb, brings my total to $5,440! Hurray! I've completed my first summit!