I knew New Westminster had a 50/50 chance of winning $25,000 in The Sports Network Kraft Celebration Tour contest.
We were going up against a curling club in Nelson, BC. From 9:00 a.m. July 23 to 8:59 a.m. July 24, people could vote on which community they wanted to see win.
Our awesome Youth Centre @ Moody Park versus a curling club in Nelson? Who wouldn’t vote for us?
Then, the day before the vote, I found out voting wasn’t one person-one vote, but unlimited! You could vote as many times as you could stand to type two unrelated words into a box: quixotic / renegade; starship / celery; episode / albino … if you voted, you know what I’m talking about.
Well, Nelson is not too shabby at community mobilization. Darn it! If I’d realized this sooner, Community Volunteer Connections could have helped pull together a team of volunteers to vote non-stop for 24 hours straight!
Imagine my joy when I found out the youth-led Fundraising Campaign for the Youth Centre @ Moody Park was already all over it. On July 24, the New Westminster Public Library opened its doors to a team of local teens, who took over the library’s 22 Internet stations and voted all night long.
Their energy inspired others in New Westminster to sit bleary-eyed in front of their computer screens, sustaining themselves with Kraft dinner. New Westies like my hubbie and city councilor Jaimie McEvoy and city councilor Jonathon Cote, who wagered dinner with spouse on who could stay up voting the latest. (Note: My boy won, so I get a free dinner out of the deal – ain’t doing good great?)
All in all, New Westminster pulled in 220,531 votes, clobbering Nelson’s 154,709 votes by over 65,000 votes. And we’re another $25,000 closer to the $200,000 fundraising goal to make the Youth Centre @ Moody Park a facility worthy of our fabulous teens.
That’s what I call mobilizing a community of volunteers. New West rocks!
Photo credit: Newrambler (via Flickr)
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If you were there, I’d love to hear your story! What was it like? When did you fall asleep? Was there pizza?