$30,000 will make a lot of wishes come true
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 28/01) - Thanks to hundreds of generous Yellowknifers five children suffering from life threatening illnesses will see their dreams come true.
More than $30,000 was raised at the 3rd Annual Flight for Dreams fund-raiser on Feb. 16. All proceeds go to the Children's Wish Foundation NWT/Alberta Chapter.
"It was incredible," said Teri Arychuk, co-ordinator of the Wish Foundation's NWT sub-chapter.
"We have been sold out previous years but we were sold out three weeks in advance this year so the turnout was incredible."
The event, held at the Great Slave Helicopter hangar, was attended by 350 people this year.
Dressed in formal wear the guests downed $20 martinis, showed off their golf skills in a game of Hole-in-One and danced the night away.
Dozens of prizes were given away during the evening but everyone had their eye on the grand prize -- a half-carat BHP Ekati diamond.
The winner of the precious gem, Rod Brown, was the envy of every woman in the room, said Arychuk. The kicker is, Brown is a bachelor!
He's 36-years-old, co-owner of Discovery Mining Services and he doesn't know what to do with it.
"I don't have a clue!
"I'm going to keep it in a safety deposit box for now and if the opportunity arises where I can use it I will."
All you ladies out there shouldn't rush to woo the diamond away from Brown -- he's saving it "for the right woman."
Arychuk is very grateful to the owners of Great Slave Helicopter for helping to make the fund-raiser such a great success.
"We couldn't have done it without them -- they donated the whole hangar, they charged us nothing, they lent us their help and they basically shut down their operations for about four days for us."
The Children's Wish Foundation NWT Sub-Chapter would like to thank all of the many sponsors and donors for supporting this year's Flight for Dreams event.
