Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 18/02) - Picture this. A live chicken is released onto a giant bingo board outside Sam's Monkey Tree. If it craps on the square your organization has purchased, you are declared the "King of Wings."

The "Corporate Chicken Crap Bingo" is just one of the events planned for the 5th annual Joe McCaw Wingfest fundraiser this Sunday.

Organizers are also cooking up 4,500 wings for the King and Queen gobbler competition. That's when contestants eat as many wings as humanly possible in a one-hour period.

Last year's event raised $65,000 for charity in just one afternoon. Tim Sewell and Joe McCaw first launched the fundraiser after a dispute at a backyard barbecue over who makes the best wings.

"We said let's turn this into a fundraiser and we'll have a wingoff," says Sewell.

Since then, the event has become one of Yellowknife's largest annual charities. It's also become zanier and zanier.

Joe McCaw died of cancer in February 2000.

"He would have been proud about how far we've taken it," said Sewell.

Profits this year will go to Stanton Territorial Hospital's pediatric ward, Four Plus School, the Learning Centre and the Juvenile Canadian Cancer Society.

"We chose these four in particular because they have a direct impact on children," says Sewell.

"There are other charities that could use the money, but if you can make some of the lives better for some of these sick kids, it makes a heck of a difference."

Although tickets for the event are sold out, people can still donate money by contacting Sam's Monkey Tree.

Part of the profits will help purchase medical equipment, such as heart monitors, for the hospital.

This equipment helps children like Sam Avaligak, a tiny boy who is hooked up to a heart monitor and is receiving oxygen at Stanton Territorial Hospital.

Although Sam is three-and-a-half months old, he looks like a newborn and weighs under eight pounds.

Born six weeks early, Sam has a hole in his heart and problems with his lungs.

Fortunately, Sam will soon return to his Kugluktuk home -- which comes as a great relief to his mother Millie who stays by his side at the hospital.

As she holds him in her arms, the tiny boy with a big tuft of black hair makes irresistible baby noises.

"He likes to talk," says his mom with a smile.