By Sheldon Spackman

Food Bank and Victim Services benefit from RCMP Regimental Ball

Sep 28, 2018 | 3:55 PM

Victims of crime and those less fortunate in our community stand to benefit from a Regimental Ball hosted by Red Deer RCMP this month.

During a short presentation at the downtown RCMP detachment on Friday, Superintendent Ken Foster and Inspector Dean LaGrange presented cheques of $7,500 each to Red Deer Victim Services and the Red Deer Food Bank, thanks to $15,000 being raised during the RCMP Regimental Ball held September 15.

Funds raised were the result of live and silent auctions held during the Ball and through the sale of raffle and 50/50 tickets.

A sold-out event attended by 320 people and generously supported by a wide-array of local businesses, organizations and individuals.

Susan Bontje, Administration Assistant, RCMP Victim Services, says the money will help with training for staff, volunteers and basic supplies.

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“It’s great, any donations are always great,” exclaims Bontje. “We depend on government funding and sometimes that’s capped-off at a certain level, so this will be great for extra training for volunteers and for direct assistance to victims as well. Sometimes when things like fires happen, there really is no money available right away to assist people.”

Sheila Wetherelt, Volunteer Coordinator, Red Deer Food Bank, says the money they received will go into their hamper program.

“Three things that we do buy is our three ‘M’’s, meat, milk and margarine, we ensure that that goes into every hamper, everything else is donated,” states Wetherelt. “Everything is down right now, monetary and non-perishables, its dire straits at the food bank right now. It’s an annual thing right before the giving season, so hopefully we take in 70 per cent of our donations within the next three months.”

Wetherelt says cash donations are always welcome at the food bank because they can stretch the dollar by five times through bulk ordering.

“You may go in and buy a couple of cans of soup but we buy a pallet, so that’s how we stretch that dollar,” states Wetherelt. “We do have our Mormon Helping Hands Food Drive coming up tomorrow and then we have our Operation Food Lift and that’s on Sunday.”

RCMP Superintendent Ken Foster says the Regimental Ball is an important event which has a positive impact on the community.

“It’s to celebrate police and the community working together for a better community,” says Foster. “I’m very proud, the work that goes into these and the leadership of Inspector Dean LaGrange and the Regimental Ball Committee, there’s a lot of people that went into making this happen.  It’s just like planning a wedding and maybe even a little bit beyond.”

He says this year’s Regimental Ball was first rate.

“They hit it out-of-the-park with the decorations, the pomp and ceremony,” states Foster. “The attendance itself was far beyond our expectations. I can’t say enough about the job by Inspector Lagrange and the committee but most importantly the support we received for these charities at the event through businesses donations and coming and buying tables and the live auction and silent auction, is a very proud moment for me.”

“We also had some expert help from Mr. Ray McBeth and our MC Jim McPherson, both fundraisers within the community,” adds Foster. “They know everybody and they got a lot of people in the seats for us and I can’t say enough about those two gentlemen. This may not have happened without the assistance of them and of course others.”

Held at the Holiday Inn on Gasoline Alley, this year’s Red Deer RCMP Regimental Ball looked to the past and into the future of policing, highlighting a new robot that will soon be used by Red Deer Victim Services in their work with children, honouring those who gave their lives in service to their communities through the Fallen Comrade Ceremony and celebrating the tradition of having the most senior officer present, serve dinner to the most junior officer present.