The Sun was hot and the skies were clear as pledges were ‘stranded’ on Trout Lake, with only their phones (and paddles to get back of course) to make calls asking for support in the Annual Up the Creek Without a PADDLE fundraiser.
For eight consecutive years North Bay - Nipissing’s Rotaract Club has been supporting the PADDLE program.
The Providing Adults with Developmental Disabilities Lifelong Experiences (PADDLE) Program is a growing community-based program that aims to provide adults with special needs lifelong learning experiences through academics, physical fitness, life skills education, recreation and community volunteer placements.
Megan Johnson, PADDLE Program Coordinator said it was a homegrown program to meet the needs of the community, but finding support can be a challenge.
“We don’t receive government funding,” she explained, “so this fundraiser ensures that the fees to participate in PADDLE are kept low so that individuals seeking aide aren’t turned away based on financial need.”
Since PADDLE receives no government funding, they rely on fundraising events and generous donations from the community. All proceeds for the event benefit PADDLE Learning Centre to ensure these adults can continue to thrive in our community with a program that accounts for their individual needs and interests.
“It’s part of our heritage now as an organization,” Alex Rogerson, Rotaract North Bay – Nipissing President said. “It originated as the very first event Rotaract did as a charted club and is what really set it off.”
“The impact is two-fold,” she explained. “We don’t receive any government funding, so this fundraiser ensures that the fees to participate in PADDLE are kept low so that individuals seeking aide aren’t turned away based on financial need.”
Johnson said it was also amazing to see so many young individuals taking the time to support and celebrate with other young individuals.
Rogerson was proud to announce following the event that Rotaract had raised over $16,000 this year for PADDLE—the most of any previous years.
“This is really amazing,” she said to the crowd, their $80,000 over eight years goal shattered with a total of $92,000 raised since the start. “We look forward to doing this again. We love the organization, we love working with them and we definitely see a continuation of support."
