Central Station and Hometown Service called on the community to take a drive for a good cause—and Winklerites responded in spades.
The May 30 Drive for Your Community fundraiser at the Winkler dealership saw people come out to test drive a Ford in exchange for a donation to the downtown community centre.
A total of 135 test drives were done, earning $30 each from Ford. Further funds were raised thanks to food served up by Northern Flames BBQ and a bake sale table, allowing Hometown service manager Heather Derksen and Northern Flames’ Julie Nickel to present Central Station with a cheque for $7,203 on Friday.
“We thought the event went really well,” said Derksen. “We were really happy with the turnout that we got and just really excited to see so many people from our community come out to help support Central Station.
“Central Station is a really integral part of our community, and we’re so happy that we can do this.”
Nickel, who also works at Central Station, said Northern Flames BBQ were thrilled to be a part of the day.
“When we learned about this event, we thought, hey, how fun would it be to partner and bring some good food to the crowds that are coming out and hopefully make it a bigger event,” she said, sharing they reached out to local businesses for food donations and “had such a great response. So we were able to put almost everything that was brought in back to the community, back for Central Station.”
It was an amazing day, observed Central Station executive director Anita Wiebe.
“We are constantly blown away by the support from our community in the most creative ways, like opportunities to collaborate with Hometown and Northern Flame and some exceptionally cute girls doing the bake sale,” she said. “It was such a cool day to be a part of and to see our community physically come out and be part of things. The atmosphere was phenomenal.”
Central Station will use the funds to support the work they do in building relationships and supporting those in need. And while the money is most welcome, so too was the opportunity simply to connect with people, Wiebe said.
“Central Station is made up of the community. We have staff, but our volunteers, that’s the community. So it was really was people that are Central Station coming to connect with us again,” she said.
“It’s a neat way for the community to be part of things and to feel like they are connected and they are a part of who Central Station is.”
