More than $235,000 at Wonderland

The 11th edition of Karonhiaráhstha’s Winter Wonderland may not have broken last year’s fundraising record of more than $260,000, but it came pretty close, with $236,490 raised for the medical scholarship program named in memory of Karonhiaráhstha Sky Junie Delisle.

“At the end of the day, it’s such a wonderful feeling to see it all come together,” said Carly Gilbert, the Kateri Memorial Foundation (KMF)’s events coordinator.

The money raised came from those buying tickets to try and win the 21 trees that were donated by organizations, companies, and individuals in the community, the half-and-half draw, as well as direct donations.

The half-and-half was won by Alee Tarbell, from Akwesasne, who took home $55,080.

On top of those prizes, $24,000 in door prizes were also given out via live daily drawings on Facebook.

The event was held for a second straight year in Playground’s Events Hall. Last year, the event had to pivot to Playground at the last minute due to their normal venue, the Knights of Columbus, being unavailable due to foundation concerns.

The KMF does not see itself leaving the Playground venue anytime soon, Gilbert said.

“The location is amazing, the building is great, Playground Cares give so much of their time with their staff to take care of anything we need. They go above and beyond,” said Gilbert.

The Winter Wonderland volunteers, KMF board members, and sponsors go above and beyond, too.

“It takes a team. It’s not one person that does this, and we appreciate every single one of them,” said Gilbert.

She said that there is already a waiting list for new sponsors who want to have a tree in next year’s Wonderland, which means they will have to figure out how to make everyone fit.

“We don’t want to turn any sponsors away,” said Gilbert.

They don’t want to turn away any visitors, either. With Playground being so close to the Chateauguay boundary, that has meant more visitors than ever before, including from neighbouring communities - even with fears of tragic jams caused by the construction near Playground, which did not affect attendance as much as feared according to Gilbert.

“Our community members are always our main draw. But I find this year, as well as other board members, we had a lot of non-community members, our neighbours, that came,” said Gilbert.

“They were so happy that they were able to come and join us this year and see what it was all about. They’ve never seen anything at that level.”

One local tree winner was Krissie Hamelin, who won the tree sponsored by Mohawk Gas that included toys, games, kitchen items, gift cards, and more.

“It was so exciting and fun to win,” said Hamelin, who said it was her first time winning anything at the Winter Wonderland.

That being said, it’s not her first time having something to do with a Winter Wonderland tree, as she donated one in 2017 that was NASCAR themed.

She goes twice every year, once at the beginning of the Wonderland and once at the end, because she feels it is a great fundraiser.

“It definitely raises a great amount of money, and people from all over seem to enjoy it. Just to go and see the setup of the beautiful trees is awesome, especially at this time of year,” said Hamelin.

“Congrats to the staff, volunteers, and those who donate to this event, you all do an amazing job! And for those who haven’t come out to support this cause, you can’t win if you don’t try.”

Another tree winner was Jadeen Lem, who won the tree sponsored by Crazy Horse that featured a $6,000 travel voucher, luggage, two video game consoles, and an arcade cabinet.

Lem said she tries to go every year and buy some tickets to try and win.

“But, never did I think that out of thousands of tickets, ours would get picked. I’m very grateful for winning the Christmas tree,” she said.

“Christmas came early for myself and my family.”

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