THUNDER BAY – United Way Billboard Rescue participants have been grounded this year, but will still try to collect $100,000 to help the organization reach its annual campaign goal.
After 26 years of climbing billboards or strapping themselves onto a scissor lift and being raised to the Thunder Bay sky, the event is taking a new course in 2019, a way to spice of an event that has outlasted hundreds of others in the city and still remains the United Way’s single-largest fundraiser of the year.
Campaign co-chairs Angela Beaucage and Andrew Richert on Thursday said there were a number of reasons to make the change.
“We wanted to include the entire community. We’re trying to project the feeling of inclusion and how we can help the entire community. We want all teams to come forward, so we changed the format a little bit,” Beaucage said at a news conference held at the United Way’s office, several Billboard Rescue teams on hand to pick up their packages and learn a little more about the new format.
“We have every team coming on board to create their own billboard on how they see Thunder Bay being inclusive and connected. From there we’re going to take all of those smaller billboards and create a giant billboard.”
The bigger billboard will be displayed on site at IG Wealth Management’s Jade Court address, where this year’s Billboard Rescue and accompanying community barbecue will be held on May 16.
Richert said change is a good thing.
“Thunder Bay is one of those towns that has been somewhat resistant to change. I think they’re going to be really embracing this one,” he said. “It’s not as cold, it’s indoors and it’s something different. And I think it’s something that people enjoy.
“They’ll be able to put their thoughts to paper and it will be something that everyone can see.”
Lowerys partner Shawn Christie, who has been involved with Billboard Rescue since the beginning, said the event has raised more than $2 million combined, and it’s still just as important as it was in its earliest days.
“It’s the biggest single-day fundraising initiative that the United Way puts on,” said Christie, whose company is co-presenting the event, along with IG Wealth Management.
Donna Yocom, regional director of IG Wealth Management, said it’s a great cause that will help everyone in Thunder Bay empower all of life’s possibilities.
“That’s exactly what the United Way does,” she said. “Their reach is so far and the impact is incredibly positive for many, many people in Northwestern Ontario.”
Participants who will collect pledges prior to and during the event, will be assisted in their artistic endeavours by the Community Arts and Heritage Education Project. The barbecue is scheduled for May 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
