Check out the Sponsors

If you haven’t already, you should check out the sponsor page at the Alberta Wish Ride web site.  We are extremely grateful to all the community-minded organizations and people who have so generously donated products and cash to support our event.

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.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Sunday was Children’s Wish day at the Okotoks Dawgs and it was loads of fun.  The foundation extended the invitation to our volunteers but not many were able to attend.  That’s too bad because it was a great day in the sun and the Dawgs won.

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!

Location Change

We need to let you know of a location change for the 2011 event.  Unfortunately our plans to change the venue for this year’s ride did not work out so we’re going back to Little Elbow at Kananaskis.

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!

Ride a Horse, Grant a Wish

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.

Spreading the Word

Irene, Megan from the Wish Foundation and I did a brief presentation last night to members of the Calgary Regional Trail Riders Associationand we feel it was well received.

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.

Counting Down to BC Events

It’s less than a month until the first BC wish ride takes place.  The Kamloops ride is scheduled for May 7th followed the next weekend by Kelowna and Oliver.

2010 Kelowna Wish Ride

The Kelowna ride on the 14th is the original event.  It’s been happening every year since Walter White came up with the idea and started the ride.  Since then it’s spread to many communities throughout BC and has become a significant fundraiser for the Children’s Wish Foundation helping children and their families.

You can check out information about the BC rides here.

The Kelowna ride on the 14th at the Black Mountain Rodeo Grounds is a fun event.  You’ll meet a lot of great people, get a chance to ride some interesting trails around Black Mountain, have a great time and support a great cause.  They always have great prizes supplied by wonderful Kelowna people and businesses.  Please be in touch with the organizers if you’d like to become a sponsor and support this great event.  If you’re a rider, download a pledge sheet from their web site or set up an online account and start your fundraising.

And, plan to attend the 3rd annual Alberta ride August 20 at Single Tree Ranch.  You can get all the details here.

Thanks for your support.  Happy trails!

Online Donations Now Available

We’ve made it easier for participants to collect pledges and for supporters to donate with the implementation of a special online system.

Once you register to ride in the 2011 Alberta Wish Ride, we’ll send you a link to a page where you can collect pledges online.  You can customize this page and then send the link to friends, family, colleagues, etc.  They’ll be able to go directly to your page to make their donation.  Their support goes on your pledge sheet, and we can send them a tax receipt.

Supporters can make a general donation through this system, or through PayPal which we have as well through our website.

Registrations are coming in because people don’t want to miss the opportunity to participate in this fun event supporting a great cause.  Remember, we provide a pancake breakfast, a great day on the trails, prizes and entertainment as well as a barbeque when you get back.  For every $25 you raise, we’ll give you a ticket into the draw for a new saddle donated by Irvine’s Tack and Western Wear and Dark Horse Land Consulting Ltd.

Check out the details on the web site, register and book your spot on the trail of your choice, then get busy on fundraising. By participating you’re making a difference in the lives of Alberta children who have been diagnosed with a life threatening illness and their families.