Barn dance benefits children’s charity

 

The Wheatland Whirlers Square Dance Club hosted their first charity barn dance at the Strathmore Civic Centre on Aug. 14. The price was $5 to get in, or $20 per family, with all the proceeds going to the Alberta and Northwest Territories branch of the Children’s Wish Foundation. 

Children’s Wish is a national non-profit organization that grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Claudia Littlefair has been volunteering with the Strathmore branch of Children’s Wish for seven years and despite the fact that their branch currently has only two members, Littlefair was excited to combine her love of square dance as well as her love of volunteering. 

“I just thought it was a good mix, I’ve been dancing for 19 years with the square dance club and now my husband’s the caller for that club,” said Littlefair. “We like to do things for the community.” 

The event was full of fun with snacks, baked goods, and raffle prizes, with people of all ages dancing to the music of the Prairie Mountain Fiddlers, a fiddling group from Calgary. 

“The fiddlers were very generous, they came out from Calgary and did not charge for playing,” said Littlefair

Overall, the event was a tremendous success, raising $1,700 for the Children’s Wish Foundation with over 200 people in attendance. 

“I was really pleased,” said Littlefair.

Elisha Jackson, a development coordinator for Children’s Wish, was also in attendance to help support the event. 

“Community support is integral to granting wishes – we can’t do it without the community,” said Jackson. “We don’t have government grants, we don’t have anything like that, so we depend on the community to raise money and support.”

Despite living in Alberta for most of her life, this is the first barn dance featuring square dancing that Jackson has attended. 

“(All the fundraisers) are so unique and I get to do some really cool things…I’ve been in non-profit for a while and this is the first time I’ve been to a barn dance,” said Jackson.

If you’d like to donate to the Children’s Wish Foundation through an event you can contact Elisha Jackson at 587-880-3253 and for more information you can visit www.childrenswish.ca. For more information about the Strathmore branch of this charity, or for more information about the Wheatland Whirlers, call Claudia Littlefair at (403) 934-5966.