Kinettes take over Chase the Ace
October 10, 2020, 5:56 pm
Rob Paul Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
For the last six months there hasn’t been much going on across Canada due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Moosomin Kinette Club is hoping to give local residents something to do on Saturday nights.
The Kinette Club recently took over the Chase the Ace fundraiser in Moosomin from the Elks and is hosting it every Saturday evening at the Sportsplex.
Paige Volk, the chair of the event, says it’s a huge opportunity to raise money for charity and the Kinettes are excited for the chance to step up.
“The Elks ran it for two or three years in the past,” said Volk. “Then they didn’t want to do it this year and they offered it up to us (the Kinette Club) for first dibs.
“They know it’s a real good way to raise money and they know that the Kinettes are always looking for a good fundraiser.
“We took it over, and we had to take a little break over the summer because it’s not as busy over the summer and also because Covid-19 kind of threw a wrench in our plans.”
Not only will the Kinette Club be hosting the Chase the Ace fundraiser every Saturday, but the Sportsplex will be serving food and with the help of businesses in Moosomin, there will be additional draws for attendees to have multiple chances to win prizes.
“It’s every Saturday from 5:30 p.m. — 7:30 p.m. We have local businesses that have either donated gift cards or gift baskets for our pre-draw,” she said. “We usually have about three or four of those a night.
“Those start at 6 p.m. and the draw is at 6:30 p.m. Then the Chase the Ace tickets are on sale at 7 p.m. and the draw is at 7:30 p.m. It’s at the Sportsplex and they have their kitchen open there for summer, they have a supper special every week.”
With high hopes for the amount the fundraiser will potentially raise, Volk says the Kinette Club is still making a decision on what they’ll put the money towards.
“We aren’t quite sure yet what we’re going to use the money we’ve raised for,” she said. “We’re not sure yet if our Kin playground at the ball diamond with the accessibility swing has anymore outstanding costs yet.
“If we do, this will go towards that for sure. We’re not really sure yet after that. We’re kind of throwing around some different ideas and thinking about getting a bigger project on the go, we are hoping to make quite a bit of money with this one.
“It’s available for proxies too. So if you can’t make it out to the event yourself you can e-transfer us or give money to a friend at the event and they can buy tickets on your behalf, then if you get called they can draw a ticket for you.
“We’re hoping that will help amp up our profits because you don’t actually have to be there. There’s no limit on distant either, you can be from Regina and buy a ticket if you wanted to and be at home.”
With more Kinette Club members in Moosomin than they’ve had in the past, Volk says it was the perfect time to take over the event.
“We have probably the biggest Kinette club that we’ve had in quite a few years, we have quite a few members,” she said.
“We just kind of wanted a bigger event. We figured this would make a lot of money and give a lot back to the community too and we thought we should go for it.
Volk says the Kinette Club jumped at the opportunity to host the event because it can be a great way for people in the community to both support the community and spend a safe night out after Covid-19 has led to the cancelation of the majority of events in 2020.
“It is a lot of work, it’s proven that already, but it’s fun because it’s a fundraiser and we’re raising money but it’s also an event.
“There’s not a lot going on right now and hopefully when Covid-19 is over we can get more of a crowd. It’s just a fun thing to do, you can get a night out every week, you can get a babysitter, you can go out for supper, and it’s just a couple hours of fun.”
With Covid-19 still active and being a factor in everybody life, Volk thinks it has and will continue to have an impact on the fundraiser, but is hoping the proxy option for Chase the Ace will help alleviate some of the affect.
“I think Covid-19 definitely has been a factor,” she said. “We haven’t had quite as much of a crowd as we wanted so far, I also don’t think we can have as much of a crowd as we want.
“Right now in the Sportsplex, I believe our limit is 100 people which we haven’t had yet, but previously with the Elks they had definitely gotten way over 100 people.
“It’s a little unfortunate that we can only limit it to that, but I feel like that’s another thing the proxy is good for, people don’t have to come out and can just do it from home.
“Usually the crowd gets bigger with the bigger the pot gets and we just started so we’re only at like $372 right now so as that gets bigger, hopefully more people will come out.”
