Event management students rally campus to support youth in recovery

Algonquin College students raised money and awareness for the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre on Nov. 25 in a fundraising event on campus.

Students in the bachelor of event, sport and entertainment management program set up booths with fun games like Happy Gilmore-inspired hockey/golf, mini football games, trivia and a wheel of fortune to sell raffle tickets.

“It’s a three-month live-in program for kids from 13 to 21 who are struggling with substance use,” said Gabrielle Stephan, a student hosting a booth with a mini football game.

The event, which had booths set up all across campus, was held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., where students could win any number of prizes such as gift cards and Fujifilm cameras and even a Brady Tkachuk Four Nations hockey stick through buying raffle tickets.

All of the proceeds from raffle sales went towards the treatment centre.

Many of the prizes came from brand sponsors who donated some of their products to students for the event.

But some students, like Ethan Lloyd and his group, took a different approach, buying merchandise themselves for their booth and even donating some of their own belongings, like a jersey that Lloyd brought in for the event.

“We did this because it was simple and it was something anybody could do whether they are high income or low income,” said Lloyd, a student at the wheel of fortune trivia-style booth.

“As someone who doesn’t have a lot of funds, I kind of understand that students are struggling right now in this economy, so I wanted to make it easy and accessible for everyone,” said Lloyd.

Since the program’s creation three years ago, this fundraising event has become an annual tradition for first-year students of the program, partnering with the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre every time.

The students also handed out pamphlets to people who stopped by the booth that were filled with information about what the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre provides to the community.

“They’re very supportive of providing resources that we need to execute events, and we raise money and awareness for them,” said Caron Fitzpatrick, a professor in the bachelor of event, sport and entertainment management program.

In the past, the program and its students have helped the charity build classrooms. According to Fitzpatrick, they and now are working to build a hockey rink for the treatment centre with the money they are raising.

But more than being a way to raise money for the treatment centre, this was a chance for students to experience what it was like putting together an event of their own and experience the unexpected problems that can occur in the process.

“This first one here is just a very basic awareness event,” said Fitzpatrick

“It’s all about the students learning how long it took to set up the event and deal with problems like playing music, needing power, scheduling, how long it took to tear the event down at the end of the day,” said Fitzpatrick.

By the end of the event, students ended up raising over $5,342 and some of the booths said they had hundreds of people stop in throughout the day to participate in games and learn about the charity.

Update, Dec. 2: The amount raised, $5,342, was updated in the story when the final tally came in.