Thank You Everyone for another successful Curl for Hope Bonspiel!

Well, it is over for another year.  We did it!  We had a very successful 2^nd Annual Curl for Hope bonspiel for Prostate Cancer Support Ottawa (PCSO).  I continue to be amazed at the kindness and dedication Carleton Heights Curling Club has when they put their efforts to a good cause.

I hope you enjoyed your day of curling, comradery, and fundraising for PCSO.  I did not curl this year, but had the opportunity to spend more time talking to you and taking in the event.  It seemed everyone was laughing and smiling during the entire day.  Even those teams where perhaps the score wasn’t quite what they were expecting!  It was great to see the club beaming with excitement for such a good cause.

Special Thanks:
I can’t say it enough but THANK YOU to Judy Dimillo, Nancy Long, and our manager Mark Quinn and the other volunteers.  They worked tirelessly from the first muffin and fruit served in the morning to the last dish washed and put away following the banquet.  I marvel at their commitment and energy for this event.  Our club has a long history of hosting and raising money (over $640,000) for Breast Cancer.  Judy and Nancy brought their expertise and passion for giving to the Curl for Hope bonspiel.   We also need to thank Tyler and Hayden Poulson, Darrel Muzuva and Daniel Cherchez for volunteering their time to help with the day’s activities.  I am sure they got enough hours for their school-required community service.  Thank you very much!

I would also like to thank Ken Hollingshead for being our Draw Master.  I have always marvelled at this proficiency at macros and numbers in Excel to generate the scoring for this year’s bonspiel.  I would be amiss if I also didn’t thank the MEN IN HACK, Steven Cusimano, Michael Lynch, Ken Adkin, and Stephane Chartrand for helping sell 50/50 tickets, moving furniture and general support during the day.

Thank you to or ice tech, Marie-Elaine Little for preparing the ice for this event and Nick for keeping it well-groomed during the day.   I hope everyone enjoyed their curling experience. We are happy to have Mel in our club!

Thanks to the Rideau Club team for coming back to our event.  I hope you had a great time at our club. We enjoyed hosting you.  Maybe in the future we can have a similar event at your club!

Thank you to the members of PCSO, Al Carl, Chuck Graham, and Doug Nugent and Cheryl Keyworth for coming out and providing information about their organization.  The work that PCSO does to help bring awareness, providing research funding, and supporting men and their families through their prostate cancer journey is extremely valuable.  I am happy to have supported such a good cause.

I have to give a shout-out to all the companies and individuals who donated services or items for the Silent Auction during the bonspiel. All hand made items donated by club members showed the rich talent this club has.  Tom Hayward, Doug Woods, Jeff Foss and Donna Trenholm I am humbled by your craftmanship.

Finally, thanks to the CHCC executive and ALL the club members of CHCC for getting behind this event for the second year to support it.  There was just so much synergy and giving over the past few months which really shows that our little club has such a big heart. 

Who Won?  
We need to congratulate the winners at the event:

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Draw A
1st Place    MEN IN HACK            $320
2nd Place   We Are Family          $160

(Note: The difference between 1^st and 2^nd came down to one winning end!)

Draw B
1st Place    Team Mutart         $320
2nd Place   Warm Leftovers    $160

Congratulations to those teams, but we ALL won.  It was a fun day of curling.

Donations:
We can’t leave without talking about all the fundraising which was done for Prostate Cancer Support Ottawa.  With last year’s inaugural event we raised over $13,400.  It was a number well surpassing the expectations.  This year we were hoping to do as well, if not a bit better.  Once again, the numbers surprised us all.  We are still going through the numbers, but as of today we have raised, on-line $12,581 and hope to add over $3,000 from the silent auction, 50/50 and other donations.  So, our grand total should be over $15,580!  Thank you everyone.  This is truly amazing.  The CanadaHelps donations site will be active for last minute donations until November 30, 2024

Finally:
With the continued success of this event, I think it is safe to say we will be looking at running another bonspiel for PCSO next year.  From the commitment to this event, we will be looking to coordinate with other clubs to run a parallel event.  Let’s see if we can grow this across the Ottawa region!  I want to thank the teams, volunteers, and the many donors for making this Second Annual Curl for Hope Bonspiel such a success.  Thank you.

Cheers

Hayden Brown