With so many great changes happening with the Weyburn Communithon, including a new board, the Weyburn Communithon Foundation Incorporated, something new and exciting is happening in the four months leading up to the big telethon event, this year being held on October 25th at the Weyburn Legion.
The new initiative not only puts the fun in fundraising, but it also brings together the 'tv' aspect of the ultra-Weyburn event, which is in its 44th year.
"We are doing something 'Weymazing' in town," shared Chair Lindsay Manko-Bauche. "We have started a TV show in conjunction with Access Now TV, where we are holding the Weymazing Race. It will be airing on Access Communications, and we have five episodes with three eager teams all raising money for the great cause of Communithon."
The first episode, filmed in June at the Prairie Sky Co-op Food Store, will be airing three times a day from Monday to Friday this week.
"Minard's Leisure World has been sponsoring us to help with the front end of this, and then the Co-op was a location sponsor, and I mean, who doesn't love a supermarket sweep? The contestants, two of them had to run through the store grabbing ingredients and they were timed; two had to put together a charcuterie board in the beautiful new deli that's been reno'd in the coop, and then the whole team had half an hour to auction it off to see who could bring in the most money for Communithon."
She said in total, the first episode raised $1,175 for Communithon, with donations obtained through the use of social media, and in all, the filming took about two hours.
"They were given time to create a reel, and then they put it on social media, and they had half an hour to see what came out of that. So if you see some interesting social media posts coming out of these organizations and some of the individuals that work there, that's what's happening, is that they're being Weymazing for our community, and they're bringing in money for the local Communithon."
"Our teams really showed up. The Weyburn Credit Union has a team, and they got a donation from Krista Hubick. The City of Weyburn also has a team, and they got a donation from Jeff Tosczak. And last but certainly not least, Souris Family Dental has a team, and they got a donation from Doane Grant Thornton and a family member as well. So honestly, it was all hands on deck and sincerely just so much fun."
Manko-Bauche said this is not just a fundraiser, but it's also about "spreading awareness about how there are so many businesses that do amazing things in this community. This is about bringing that all together and showcasing how they also support Communithon and spreading awareness about the event itself."
The idea was the brainchild of fellow board member Lindsee Michel.
"She's also an avid volunteer, along with myself at Access Communications, so she came up with this idea of a perfect storm of bringing everything together and working smarter, not harder to support this community and all the wonderful things that we have and do."
She said the Youth Ambassadors have been helping out with the filming with camera work and social media posts, but volunteers are welcome as well, for more boots on the ground to help with tech support.
"There are a lot of different aspects, and we're also willing to work with people. If you've got an idea that you think would work really well, talk to us about it. We'll see what we can work out. We're an amenable bunch. We like to just make it work and have people to have fun while they're volunteering."
Each episode has three different judges who are connected to the activities in which the team members will take part. The second episode, the Happy Camper episode, will be filmed at Nickle Lake on July 24th, airing in August.
"We have a few more episodes up our sleeve. I don't want to give too much away because we don't want to give any of our teams too much of an edge. But the final episode will be culminating in a Grand Finale at the Communithon, live."
Supporters can follow the Communithon social media posts, which will feature snippets of the episodes, and follow the pages of the Weyburn Credit Union, the City of Weyburn, and Souris Family Dental for those fundraising opportunities.
"If you want to get involved in any way, either with Communithon, or with The Weymazing Race, just fire us a message or e-mail and on our website or our social media because the more the merrier. We just love people, loving our community."