It looks like we’ve got some exciting things happening for the event this year, some of which we need to keep under our Smithbuilt for a little while.

The event will be August 18th.  We plan to go back to Little Elbow for our fourth year.  We’ve started to book some of the entertainment and we’re lining up the committee to start working in various areas.

We’ve already obtained a saddle as a prize, again from Irvine’s.  We’ll post some photos once we have a chance.  Last year’s saddle looked great, and this one will too.  We thank Irvine’s for their support once again this year.

Also, plans are coming together for a second event under the Alberta Wish Ride banner.  September 8th is the date set for a ride in Cypress Hills on the border between Saskatchewan and Alberta.  We don’t have a lot of details on that one yet, but mark the date in your calendar if you want to see some scenery on the eastern side of the province.

We’ll update the web site soon for the new year as well as our sponsor package.  That’s a document we distribute to potential sponsors to let them know about the event and to ask for their support.  If you want a copy, it will be downloadable from the web site soon.

We intend to ask all participants this year to ensure their horses are shod and we’re also asking everyone to carry insurance through the Alberta Equestrian Foundation.  If you’re planning to be part of the ride in 2012, please make note.

This is already shaping up to be an exciting year, so stay tuned for more details.  And, it’s never too early to start collecting pledges.

Happy trails.

We had a great afternoon at M&M’s Deer Valley on Saturday.  It was Sean’s grand reopening and he invited the Alberta Wish Ride to take part and be the beneficiary of the charity barbecue.  Except, we weren’t counting on it being so cold.

Sean’s an ingenious fellow, though.  He managed to finagle an empty storefront just down from his store and that’s where we did the serving.  He stayed out in the cold and worked the grill while everyone else stayed toasty warm inside.

Sean had burgers and hot dogs, sweet potato fries, several variety of juice and several yummy deserts.  It was a nice spread and it’s too bad more people didn’t drop by to sample.

Because of the cold, the turnout wasn’t great.  Apparently up to a thousand people can come to these events.  We had a decent number of people through, and that resulted in a very nice donation to the cause.

It gives us a good start for next year.

Speaking of next year, we’ll start soon to get things organized.  We’re looking for a different location and who knows what else we might pull off.

Also, it looks as if the second ride near Medicine Hat is moving forward.  It will likely be in

the first couple of weeks of September.  More details to come, but we understand the location they’ve chosen may provide an opportunity to rent horses, so those without their own steeds will be able to take part in the ride.

Stay tuned for updates.  Thanks again to sean and M&M’s for their support.

A good example is M&M Meat Shops in Deer Valley.  Sean, the owner, supplied and served dinner at the ride this year.  He’s just renovated his store in Deer Valley and is hosting a barbecue on November 19th.  He’s offered to donate proceeds to the Alberta Wish Ride.  See the November 19th Flyer for details.

We hope you’ll join Sean at the barbecue and sample some of his new products.  And if you have some time, come help out for a while.  We’re hoping winter won’t be hitting us too hard yet and it will be a pleasant day.

M&Ms has some great products.  Their Tiramisu cake is outstanding.

Whether you have some time to volunteer, or just want to stop by to stock up your freezer, we hope to see you on the 19th.

Yesterday, we held our volunteer appreciation event and presented a cheque to the Children’s Wish Foundation for $31,000.  I need to say that again.  $31,000!

A total of 72 riders participated in the event and they came from all over the province.  These riders and their sponsors are the main source of fundraising.  We couldn’t do it without you.  We have a terrific group of dedicated volunteers who help put this together.  We have the support of community-minded individuals and companies.  It’s a lot of work, but when we see the end result, we know it’s worth it.  I get a little choked up knowing our

Volunteers Assembled for Cheque Presentation

effort brought about that result and also knowing how it’s going to help Alberta children and their families.

One of our volunteers told me yesterday it was a privilege to be able to help with the event.  That means a lot to me and tells me we’re really doing a good thing here (as if I had any doubt).

We’re just in the process of sending out letters to our sponsors and letting them know how grateful we are for their support.  Then we’ll put things away for a few months until we’re ready to start planning next year.

Yes, Irene is willing to put on another event, but we need more help.  The event is growing and it’s not getting any easier to put it together.  We need more help during the year and more physical help the week prior to the ride, so if you’ve got some time and want to volunteer, please be in touch.

The other piece of news is there may be another event happening in southeast Alberta next year.  We hope that’s the case and we’ll be there to support that one.  It will probably be a couple of weeks after our’s.  We’re looking at August 18th, 2012, so mark it in your calendar and get your horse ready.

We’ve had an influx of registrations bringing our numbers so far even with last year or maybe a few more.

Our prizes and sponsors are surpassing last year’s. Participants will have chances to win great prizes and bid on others through the silent auction.

Check out the web site for a full list of all the sponsors. Get ready to bid on some fantastic items and don’t worry, we take credit cards.

And most importantly, we’ve been able to arrange great prizes, great food and great entertainment on a minimal budget so we can maximize our donation to the Children’s Wish Foundation.

We hope you’ll stick arouind after the ride for entertainment by Larry Watmough and Alex Hughes on the Calgary Stampede stage.

We’ll see you bright and early Saturday the 20th. It will be a great day.

Our sponsors allow us to put on a great day for our participants, and allow us to keep our expenses to a minimum.  We’ll be feeding everyone a great breakfast and dinner, providing entertainment and thanks to our supporters, maximizing the donation we make to the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada.

Scott Irvine and Irene White show off Billy Cook saddle to be given away at the 2011 Alberta Wish Ride.

What this means for our participants is a wide array of prizes up for grabs.  Not only do we have a great saddle donated by Irvine Tack and Trailer and Dark Horse Consulting, as a grand prize for the riders, but we have some other great prizes including a barbecue, lounge chairs, gift baskets, gift certificates, and other exciting items.

For every $25 you bring in in pledges, you get one ticket on the raffle for the saddle.  Other prizes will be awarded through the silent auction.  And don’t worry, we take credit cards!

Registrations have been coming in, but we still have room for more riders.  Saddle up your computer and get registered, then get out and start collecting pledges.

We hope you’ll give some business to our sponsors and when you do, please say thank you to them for supporting the 2011 Alberta Wish Ride.

We’d never been to a Dawgs game, but we’ve seen plenty of Goldeyes games in Winnipeg.

At the Okotoks Dawgs game

This was just as entertaining and more intimate as the park is quite a bit smaller than Winnipeg’s.  So intimate, in fact, their promotions director, who roams around the park during the game doing giveaways, stands at the exit and thanks fans for coming.  Nice touch.

The foundation got some good exposure and the club also promoted the ride.  Thanks Dawgs.

Now, onto the ride.  We’ve had some new sponsors come on board so please check the web site to see who they are.  All sponsors are listed on the sponsorship page.  There are more contributions coming in with donations for our silent auction.  When you contact these merchants, and we hope you do, please say thanks for being a part of our event.

Those who have been at the ride know the grilling duties are handled by folks from King George Lodge.  They’ve been out every year and have become an integral part of the event.  At a recent gathering at King George, a hat was passed and the proceeds will cover the expense for the use of the grills and tents.  This is something we would have had to cover from ride proceeds.  Thanks King George for helping to keep our expenses to a minimum and we’ll recognize them as the sponsor of the grills.

We sent out a news release recently and Irene has done some interviews as a result.  Probably as a result of those interviews, more people have registered.  If you’re planning to attend, please register as soon as possible.  Due to provincial restrictions, we are limited to the number of riders we can send out on some of the trails so you may not get onto your preferred trail if you wait to register.  Besides, the sooner you register, the sooner you can start collecting pledges.  The more you bring in, the more chances you’ll have to win that beautiful saddle from Irvine Tack and Dark Horse Land Consulting.

Please get in touch if you have any questions.  We look forward to seeing you August 20th.

And by the way, GO DAWGS!

Our permit application is in with the province and we don’t expect any difficulties.  This has been a good site for us and for our participants.  It’s good, private space and there are several campsites with horse stalls nearby.

If you’re wanting to camp and use these stalls, you’ll need to reserve the spot through the province’s reservation system.  You should probably do that soon to make sure you get a spot.

We’ll likely use the same trails as in the past; we’re just waiting for confirmation of that and once we have it, we’ll update the website.  We’ve updated a few things on the website and we’ve updated our poster.  It’s on the site if you’d like to download it and post it where people can see it.  We’d be grateful if you’d do that as we are hoping not to have the expense of reprinting the poster.

The one issue we have with the Little Elbow site is the need to trailer to the trail head for the long ride.  The long ride leaves from Cobble Flats and the province won’t allow us to ride there, so after breakfast and registration we trailer down the hill.  It’s only 5 minutes away.  Then, after the ride, trailer back up for dinner.

We’re still looking for sponsors and prizes.  If you’d like to help, please be in touch.  Everything helps and allows us to keep our expenses to a minimum and maximize our efforts for the Children’s Wish Foundation.

We apologize for the inconvenience of the change but we know we have a great location for the event and we’re looking forward to a great day.  Make sure you get your pre-registration in and start collecting those pledges.  Let us know if you have any questions.

See you in August!

Annual Tent Agony

The 2011 Kelowna Wish Ride was another outstanding success thanks to the efforts of the organizers, Carole and Al Wingenbach and their cadre of volunteers.

The number of riders was down this year and so was the donation to the Children’s Wish Foundation.  The economy in the Okanogan is still slow and money is a bit tight.  But, the event  was great and anything they can do to support the foundation is welcome, I’m sure.

There are a lot of traditions with this ride, which, by the way, is the original B.C. ride started by Walter White.  His efforts on this ride spawned events throughout B.C. and also was the genesis of the Alberta Wish Ride.  The Walter White inspired rides have become the foundation’s largest source of funds in B.C. and generated nearly one million dollars.

But back to traditions.  First, is the annual Friday night agony of tent erection. Only one person knows how the tents go together and he seems to be forgetting now too.  That’s Budge who owns the Black Mountain Rodeo grounds and who donates the site each year.

One year we decided to do it without him and managed to get the tent together.  Except I think we mixed up the sides and the legs and while it was together, the opening was only 4 feet off the ground.  Luckily Budge showed up shortly after and set us straight.

Other traditions include making sure we have onions for the barbecue, checking for ticks,

2011 Group Shot

entertainment by Lee Dinwoody and sitting around after the event to hoist a glass, reminisce and relax.

This might be the last year for the Wingenbachs organizing the ride.  They’ve looked after it for three years and kept it going in Kelowna since Walter passed away.  But, they want some time to do other things and need someone else to step up and keep the ride going.

One young lady may be stepping forward.  She won the award for the most pledges collected (over $2,000) and she seems to be interested in getting her family involved and possibly taking over.  We’ll be there to help if she does and hopefully so will the other volunteers.  The event has now run for 15 years and it sure would be good to keep it going to support the kids and their families who are going through difficult times.

There were a couple of moms at the ride this year who lost their children and whose

Saddle Winner with Wingenbachs

families benefited from a wish being granted.  It’s very courageous for them to step forward and talk about their loss, but it also helps to remind people why we’re doing this.

For all who took part in this year’s event, thank you.  We hope to see you again next year.

Megan and Irene after Trail Riders Association Presentation

We wanted to tell them about the ride and why we do it, hoping it will spur them into participating in some fashion.  They’re a group of, you guessed it, trail riders, who organize riding events in the area.  They also support charities, so we thought it was a good connection for us to make.  Kathy Hiebert, who’s on our committee, is a member and arranged for us to be on the agenda.  Thanks Kathy.

Megan also spoke about the Children’s Wish Foundation to help the group understand what our fundraising efforts are for.  As usual when we tell people about the foundation, and especially when we play one of the foundation’s video presentations, there were a number of people in the audience clearing a tear or two from their eyes.

We hope we’ll be able to get some riders from the group to participate.  We also left sponsor packages with them in hopes of some donations.

We’re still very much looking for sponsors and prize donations.  We would like to find someone to supply beef for dinner (we’ve lined up someone to cook it) and we’d like to find a sponsor to cover the cost of the grills we get each year.  Please let us know if you can help.

Registrations are coming in.  Some are new participants, and some are returning who say they wouldn’t miss this event.  It makes us feel good to hear that.

We hope you’ve downloaded your pledge sheet from the web site, or set up your custom page through the online registration system.  We want to make this another great year and make a difference in the lives of a lot of children and their families.

Thanks for being part of this event.