Please visit the links and support my friends and supporters!!!

Please visit the links and support my friends and supporters!!!

Monday, June 23, 2008

I'm BAAACCCCCK!!

Good Monday to you!

Please excuse my lack of posting over the weekend. I had this little thing to do called RELAY FOR LIFE that kind of messed with my schedule!

Speaking of the Relay for Life- What a blast! And what a great showing by Port Alberni. Over $86,000 was raised for Cancer Support and Research. Yes, 86,000!! Quite a showing for a city of this size, and pretty incredible as the sheer numbers of people involved in the relay were down considerably with about a 50% decline in attendance being my estimate, and being a number I had heard on Friday night.

A few ideas as to why the numbers were down? Firstly, just plain burnout could be a factor. This is the fourth year of the Relay for Life in Port Alberni. Anyone that has done it every year so far might've needed a break this year. It is a lot of work to organize a team and fund raise and do all the planning and packing for hanging out at Bob Dailey Stadium all night. I met plenty of first-timers Friday night/Saturday morning and they were quite excited to be there and blown away by the experience of kids getting their heads shaved and the luminary and survivor laps. I hope they take the proverbial ball and run with it for next year's Relay.

Second possible reason- the WEATHER. That would be the weather at last year's Relay, and the weather we've had so far this spring. Last year the Relay was plagued by rain and hurricane-force winds. Anyone in Port Alberni can argue that we haven't even really had a spring yet this year as the weather has been for the most part pretty poor.

Maybe summer was just waiting for Relay? This year, the "first day of summer" really did mean something as the night was beautiful and perfect for the event. Not too damn, not too cold, little wind. Conditions for staying up from 7pm to 7am were PERFECT!

There wasn't a wink of sleep at the 93.3 THE PEAK FM tent! Peak afternoon host Jolie McMullan did a great job on Friday getting on my show bright and early in the morning hours to get the word out that we needed a putting green and plenty of gift certificates to make a good contest to help pass the time and raise some money while we were at it. The Port Alberni business committee came out in full force for this one, as Jolie had amassed a haul she estimated to be valued at around $1,000 when it was all said and done.

Our plan was simple- Make a putt, get your name in the drawbox, free of charge. Miss the putt, and you had to put a dollar in the "bogie jar" which we would donate to the Relay for Life organizers at the end of the Relay. It was a very simple idea but it went over very well! There are always tonnes of events to do over the hours of Relay to keep everyone busy, but sometimes you need to do something different to "change it up" and get another kick of energy. The golf seemed to be a perfect idea as I'm sure everyone tried it at least once. We must've had over 1,000 names in the drawbox and we ended up raising well over $100.00 for Relay. Now a hundred bucks doesn't sound like much, but keep in mind it was only a loonie a pop, and only if you missed your putt! So we did pretty good.

The heroes of the night in my eyes were the 7 and 5 year olds getting their heads shaved for more money for Relay! I think I heard the one girl raised over $500.00!!

Thanks to my co-MC's Jolie and Charles Mealey. I thought we did a great job keepin' em up all night! Thanks as well to the organizers for giving my compatriots and I a chance to MC. It is always a blast, even if it messes up the weekend!

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I totally missed the NHL draft Friday, due to the Relay proceedings. I still haven't really heard what happened but I will do my best today to catch up on the picks and the trades and everything else.
My thanks to Danno for sending me this article to expedite that process- by my facebook friend Scott Brown, from THE NANAIMO DAILY NEWS

Congrats to the BCHL talent drafted:

Justin Schultz, Westside Warriors- 3rd round, 43rd overall Anaheim Ducks
Zac Dalpe, Penticton Vees- 3rd round, 45th overall Carolina Hurricanes
Derek Grant, Langley Chiefs- 4th round, 119th overall Ottawa Senators
Taylor Stefishen, Langley Chiefs- 5th round, 136th overall Nashville Predators
Grant Rollheiser, Trail Smoke Eaters- 6th round, 158th overall Toronto Maple Leafs
Brett Hextall, Penticton Vees- 6th round, 159th overall Phoenix Coyotes
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Congrats Jade! a big congrats goes out to my good buddy Jade Vilandre for graduating from NIC last week. Jade is a true beauty, a big PEAK fan (as you can see below in the pic) and a good friend. I was most humbled to be invited to his after-grad party last Wednesday. I was even more proud for Jade and his accomplishments. He not only graduated, he also won several awards for students in the special needs program. It was inspiring to me to see Jade and his family so proud of his accomplishments. Way to go buddy!


That's it for now- more later!
Hammer

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