Photo by Catherine Stachowiak
The Kern Valley Exchange Club (KVEC) raised approximately $19 thousand for scholarships and other charitable causes, at the club’s Rubber Ducky Races event, at Kernville this August.
According to Reyanna Santos, co chair for the Rubber Ducky Planning Committee, the club did better than expected with the fundraiser. “We still don’t have a solid number, for scholarships, but we did very well. We did better than we have in the last five years. I would be confident enough to say around the $19 thousand mark. It was really a surprise,” she said.
The KVEC awards scholarships to applicants, chosen from students who receive teacher, school staff, and principal recommendations. “There’s several scholarships we give out,” Santos said.
A lot of the winners of the races donated their winnings money back to the cause. “Our grand winner Sienna Medical won the main event, first place, which was $750. They donated all of their winnings back,” Santos said.
President of the KVEC, Fred Roach won first place, in the fifth heat and donated his winnings. Robert J Smith Construction donated his winnings back. Ross Elliott won the 50/50 drawing and gifted $250 back to the High School Cheerleaders.
Gene Parks Jr., Cheyanne Click, and Kern River Flooring were among other winners donating back to the fundraiser. Santos said that many winners, including club members, donated their winnings back, ranging from about $25 to $75 each.
Santos told the Kern Valley Sun that the club was pleased at the turnout. The challenge of changing the location from Riverside Park to Circle Park, last minute, caused the club to have to jostle some things around and remove others. Such issues really made the committee concerned about how things would end up. “It was such a great day that nobody noticed. It still went off without many hitches. We had everything really well organized. And we had an abundance of volunteers,” Santos said.
Getting all the ducks in the river was a challenge. Despite all the helpers involved, the club lost about 13 ducks during the process. There were some places, without access from the Riverside beach, which made it difficult to retrieve the ducks.
The race went a couple of extra heats, making it difficult for some volunteers to stay until the very end of the entire event.
According to Santos there’s a possibility that the club will have to locate the event at Circle Park again, next year, because of the second set of renovations, reinforcing beach areas in Riverside Park. The group is also considering bringing in new games for next year’s Rubber Ducky Races fundraiser.
FFA students volunteered to serve food that Jim Wyly catered at the event. The high school football team, cheerleaders, athletes from the tennis and wrestling teams, One Spade Youth Packers, US Forest Service and Smokey Bear were all volunteers for the event. Fred Clark helped provide furniture and set up canopies according to Santos.
Guys from Camp Erwin Owen volunteered setting up for the event. “It took so much off of everybody’s task list to be able to have them designated to help set up things. And they helped cleanup,” Santos said.
The big main raffle prize, which Liquidation Station donated, was an outdoor Adirondack patio table. Vons, Cheryl’s Diner, Something Sweeter, Sierra South, and Pizza Barn were also among sponsors to the event.
“We had several businesses who donated random raffle items. That was really nice to have.” Santos was grateful to the volunteers and sponsors. She said, “We had a snow cone vendor this year, Tony’s Show Time, Snow Cones and Shaved Ice. He did donate some of his proceeds to us. That was really kind.”
