Today, bear with me as we step away from SCUBA diving. Instead, today on the blog, we’re going to look at a recent fundraising event for the CP Center of Tri-Counties.
So first off, what is the Cerebral Palsy of Tri-County? Cerebral Palsy of Tri-County was started in 1957 for children with developmental delays or who are medically fragile who require extra services. The CP Center is funded by charitable donations and center fees. That’s just a brief description. For more information, please visit their website at cptrico.org.
Now that we know a little about the CP Center located right here in Webb City, let’s talk about the fun had at the Trails for Kids Fundraiser a few weekends ago.
Trails for Kids 2018
Trails for Kids is a fundraiser to help raise money for the CP Center. Throughout the year, the Trails for Kids committee meet to work out all the details of the upcoming Trails for Kids event that is held on the 3rd weekend of April (unless Easter falls on the third weekend, then it moves to the fourth weekend).
Earlier this year we received some questions on just what Trails for Kids was. Trails for Kids is a trail riding event. Packets are sent out a couple months before the ride for participants to start raising monetary donations. Then the weekend of the trail ride, people load their horses up and haul to Underwood’s Crag O’Lea in Pineville, Missouri. There are events each night from a bake sale, karaoke, trail rides, duck races, 50/50 pots, gun raffles, and the main auction followed by a band to dance the night away to. There is something for everyone.
Friday Night
People start pulling in for the weekend’s events starting as early as Wednesday or Thursday, however, the planned events don’t start until Friday night. Friday night is the Bake Sale. Participants, as well as local businesses, donate baked goods to the cause. Then some of our own come to auction off the baked goods. It is definitely a good thing to come with a healthy appetite.
This year, Chuck Miller started off the baked goods sale. In the words of Chuck, “Let’s start the auction.” Nicely said, Chuck! Our auctioneers for the bake sale were Terry Quarles and Bill Thomas.
On top of the events that are held throughout the weekend, there are people like Donna Underwood who work all year long selling goods to help raise money for these deserving children.
After the Bake Sale is over, it’s time for Karaoke. Two Dog Two Karaoke has been with us many years every Friday night for a good round of Karaoke.
Saturday
Saturday morning starts the Trail Ride. In previous years there has been an organized ride. This year we did something a little different. In previous years, we’ve been rained out, more than once. Last year was an extreme case of that when we were flooding. This year we decided that we weren’t going to do an organized ride, however, we had volunteers that if people didn’t know the trails, they could go out in a group. We didn’t want anyone lost after all!
Christy Graham and Nicole Willoughby went out to take pictures of all the riders who hit the trails. We kept track of the youngest, second youngest, and oldest rider. Plus there were awards presented to the youth who raised the most money and the adult who raised the most amount of money.
Here are just a few pictures of the riders who hit the trails. This had to be narrowed down because we posted 531 photos to Facebook throughout the weekend. If you’d like to see those photos, please click here!
Trail Riders
Meanwhile
Meanwhile, back at camp… People spent the day coming in and going out on the trails. It wouldn’t be a Trails for Kids without a threat of rain, and this year was no different. Luckily the rain held off until about 4 pm.
Can’t forget the Cook Shack ran by Bryan Williams. There was breakfast, lunch, and dinner served Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through lunch.
At 4 pm we had the annual Duck Race. People had the chance to purchase ducks for the race at $2 a piece or 3 for $5. The Duck Race was held at 4 pm in Sugar Creek, which is the river that runs right by the campground. A special thanks to Jared Weston, Mark Willoughby, Tori Willoughby, Triston Vandergrift, Shawn Doty, and Nicole Willoughby for running the Duck race.
Saturday Night
Saturday night is the night for the main auction. Items range from horse equipment to artwork to feed and beyond. Jim Leavens is our auctioneer on Saturday night.
This year’s musical entertainment after the auction was brought to us by Bobby D Band.
Sunday
Sunday is the day that everyone packs up and heads home. But not before Cowboy Church is over. Thanks to Chuck Beaver for coming and preaching the word of God for Cowboy Church.
Now, remember, the whole reason for coming is to raise money for the CP Center. Drum Roll Please…
This year, the grand total raised was $37,000. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
p.s. if you want to see all the photos taken, please click here. Thank you, Christy Graham, Dana Carver, and Nicole Willoughby for being the paparazzi. Seen above are 47 of the 531 photos seen on Facebook and our Website.
Awesome! You are so good at what you do! Thanks for sharing!