About a dozen members of the Fort Frances Sea Cadets #144, along with their family and friends, walked four km around Emo during their annual walk-a-thon fundraiser on Victoria Day.
The corps raised $850, which will go towards future projects.
“We’re really happy with it,” noted organizer Vicki Ikert. “Last year we raised a bit more—around $1,200—but we had more cadets and they each raised more.”
But this is the first year they’ve conducted the walk around Emo—starting at the curling club, heading down Front Street to the hospital, continuing on the trail by the highway to Visser’s Auto, then down Canning Lane and back along Front Street.
Last year, they walked down the River Road and back, but thought walking in Emo would be safer because they could stay on the sidewalk most of the time.
The also wore reflective vests as another safety precaution.
“I drove the length of the walk before hand and I was worried some might have a tough time . . . but they did a good job,” Ikert said, adding it took the group about 45 minutes to complete the walk.
She believes it is a good fundraiser for the corps because it gets the members to be more active, and she hopes they do the walk-a-thon again next year.
Commanding officer (CO) Terry Newman echoed his hopes of holding the event in coming years.
“We took it over from the [Emo] Lions Club and we’d like to get other groups involved,” he indicated, noting if others participated, they’d be raising funds for their own group.
“It would just be nice for everyone to something together,” he added.
Newman added the local corps attended some adventure training in Gimli, Man. earlier this month.
They were invited by the host corps, RCSCC Qu’Appelle from Winnipeg, and the RCSCC Swiftsure corps from Brandon also attended the weekend event.
“There were about 80 kids there and it was the first time we had been invited,” Newman noted.
He explained the corps members enjoyed playing a number of sports, including basketball, volleyball, soccer, swimming, and orienteering.
“Saturday was a leisure day and they play tug-of-war,” Newman added. “It was more fun than anything else just to get the corps together.
“They didn’t complete corps against corps—they worked with different people and it was good for team-building.”
The next event for the local corps will be their annual inspection next Saturday (June 2) at the Emo Arena beginning at 1 p.m. They will have a wind-up barbecue later in June.
“It’s a really great program,” Ikert enthused of the Sea Cadets. “We’ve been involved in it for seven years and my children have had some great experiences.
“They’ve had the opportunity to travel and have taken sailing courses.”
There also are many summer camps for the corps members to attend.
Anyone aged 12-18 is welcome to join the group when it starts its new season in the fall, meeting weekly at the curling club in Emo.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
