Drive For Your Community fundraiser this Friday
Test drive a car at Celebration Ford and help fundraise for PlayFair Daycare
June 1, 2026, 10:22 am
Ashley Bochek Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Celebration Ford in Moosomin is hosting the Drive For Your Community fundraiser this Friday, June 5.
The fundraiser is in support of PlayFair Daycare. The second daycare building will have 90 spots in addition to the 62 spots in the current building.
Everyone is welcome to test drive a car from 10 am to 4 pm Friday and enjoy a barbecue lunch.
Tyler Thorn of Celebration Ford explains the upcoming fundraiser.
“It’s a partnership between Ford of Canada, local Ford dealers, and local charities.
“We’re partnered with PlayFair Daycare. We are hosting the Drive For Your Community event on June 5, so anyone can come to the dealership and test drive a car, a short test drive. Ford of Canada will donate $30 for the first 200 test drives, and we’re going to contribute $20 to make it $50, so our plan is to have 200 test drives at least that day and raise $10,000 for the daycare.”
He says this is Moosomin Celebration Ford’s first Drive For Your Community fundraiser.
“It’s a Ford initiative. Ford had it, they’ve done it for a number of years, and then they took a little break from offering it, and then it kind of resurfaced again this year, so this is our first time doing it. There are lots of different charities that Ford allows you to choose so it’s up to the dealer to decide.”
Thorn says the new daycare was a top priority to help fundraise for.
“It was at the top of our list. It can’t go to capital that is Ford’s rules, so in our case when we applied, it’s for equipment, furniture, things like that.”
What to expect
Thorn says test drives will start at 10 am on Friday.
“We’ll start at 10 am. We’re thinking 10 am until 4 pm. People can show up whenever it’s convenient for them. They will jump in a car with one of our sales guys, go for a little test drive, and when they complete the test drive they have to scan a QR code, fill out a little form and submit it, and then that triggers the contribution from Ford Canada.
“Everyone is welcome and you don’t have to test drive a car, if you don’t want, but we’d love to see lots out.”
He says there will also be a barbecue at noon on Friday.
“We’re going to have hamburgers and hot dogs, a free lunch, we’ll just put out a donation jar, and we’ve got some of our wives coming to run the grill. Then we’ll have our sales team running the test drives, and then we’re going to have some folks from the daycare board here to help with the post-test-drive registration process because we want to make sure everybody does that because if they come for a test drive and don’t do it, then we don’t get the money.”
Excited for fundraiser
Thorn says Celebration Ford staff are excited for the upcoming event.
“We’ve never done one before, so we’re really excited about doing it. A number of my friends that are Ford dealers have done it and they rave about how much fun it is, and how well the fundraising goes. We’re pretty excited. We don’t do a lot of these event-type marketing things so we’re excited to see how it goes.”
Daycare top priority
Thorn says fundraising for the new daycare was important to him to support.
“It has been pretty important to me. My kids are grown up and past that stage, but it has still been important to me. I understand the economic benefits in having another daycare. It’s at the top of my priority list. We try to support everything we can. You have to give back. The community has supported us for 46 years now, and we’ve been very fortunate. So I like to give back any way I can.”
He says the daycare is important for staff members.
“Lots of my staff have kids, either in there now, have had in the past, or probably will someday. I see the need for it. We hired a new CFO, and they’re moving here from Regina, but right now she’s still commuting because they’re renovating a house and she couldn’t get daycare. So, we were in a position of trying to get them to move to town, but they couldn’t come because she’s got two little boys, and they both need daycare. It starts to hit home when you see the impact. I just think it’s important for the community.”
Thorn adds, “Hopefully the weather co-operates, and for us, the money for the daycare is first and foremost. If we get a few people that want to have a closer look at a Ford afterwards and we maybe sell a couple of cars, that’s great, that will be a bonus, but it’s really about helping fundraise for the daycare so more families in Moosomin have that option.”
200 test drives
At least 200 test drives is mandatory to receive funding from Ford Canada in the Drive For Your Community fundraiser.
“We have to get 200 people here, and get them to test drive and make sure we maximize that, particularly the money coming from Ford.
“The daycare is working on making sure they get the daycare families here and we’ll get our staff, so if we can get 50 daycare families here, and our staff. We’re at 80 already, so I think we can get to 200 people.”
Celebration Ford invites the whole community to attend Drive For Your Community this Friday.
“There is no cost to anybody and everyone is welcome. The only rule that Ford has is a limit of one per household, so when we register people they have to register their physical address, and hopefully we get everybody out for free lunch.”
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