Up the Creek and earning a PADDLE

Shawn Venasse congratulates Ted Thomson and Kavan Rouhani who brought in $7,000 for the Annual 'Up the Creek Without A PADDLE' event Friday.

Organizers of the Annual 'Up the Creek Without A PADDLE', which took place on the shores of Trout Lake Friday, are calling the event a great success.

The event, sponsored by the Rotaract Club of North Bay-Nipissing in support of the Providing Adults with Disabilities Lifelong Experiences (PADDLE) Program, saw local politicians; business and community leaders stranded in a boat off shore at Olmstead Beach earning their way back to shore by soliciting donations via cell phone from friends, family and colleagues.

PADDLE is a community-based program that provides adults with special needs lifelong learning experiences through academics, physical fitness, life skills education, recreation and leisure.

PADDLE Committee Member Lori Venasse says PADDLE fills a need that many families faced when their special needs children turned 21 and were no longer in the school system.