By Sarah Wallace

Team Esperanza chipping away at fundraising goal

Dec 3, 2014 | 11:38 AM

A local group of teachers, students and community members are fundraising their way to Ecuador.

And now, the group will be hosting two events this month to help with the remainder of what they have to raise.

Prince Albert-based Team Esperanza — which is the Spanish word for Hope – is a group of six. They were inspired by trips to We Day in 2013 to help make some positive change in the world.

Team leader Kimberly Semenchuk said they have plans to go to Ecuador in the summer of 2015 to do a number of things like help build a school, volunteer with local women’s groups and to connect with communities abroad. 

She said they want to build life-long skills with leadership and to learn about global issues.

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“We’re reaching out to the community to help us get there, it’s very expensive, and we’ve been fundraising for several months now. We have $9,000 left to raise.”

She said they have raised just over $10,000.

The group has been fundraising since last January and along the way have been holding lots of bottle drives, selling jerky and having jewelry sales.

Semenchuk said they still wanted to do some bigger fundraisers and are excited about the events they have planned this month.

This Saturday, the team will be holding a Kids Christmas Gym Blast at Arthur Pechey School for kids aged three to 11.   

At the gym blast, the children can be dropped off to be watched by babysitters, or parents can stay with them. There will be bouncy castles, face painting and Christmas crafts.

There are four session times, with only two available: 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.  If parents are interested in taking their children to the event, they can call Semenchuk at 306-987-1666 and book a time.

There are just more than 80 kids registered for the vent so far.

The other event the team is putting together is called Team Esperanza Presents the Gifts of Christmas on Dec. 18 which will be held at Arthur Pechey School.

Semenchuk said the doors to the event open at 6 p.m. with a silent auction at 6:30 p.m. and a concert at 7 p.m. Local award-winning musician Donny Parenteau will be in concert, along with special guests, the Prince Albert string orchestra and local youth.

“It’s going to be a fabulous night. It’s for all ages, we really wanted to make it a community event so everyone can come.”

She said there will be Christmas caroling, gifts and Christmas trivia.

The event is only $10 per person but every ticket gets entered into win a number of draws.

Semenchuk said one of the big prizes is a $1,000 family portrait session with Janna Gobeil, which also comes with a large sized heirloom canvas.    ( http://www.jannagobeil.com/blog/ – Link for Janna )

Tickets are available at Arthur Pechey School or by going by Serendipity Bra Boutique.

“[The group] is really excited. Of course we’re nervous because it’s something we’ve been working really hard at, we finally have an amazing event that could be really successful.”

She said when they get to Ecuador it’s going to be amazing but the process to get there is just as awesome, “meeting the people, doing the work and meeting the friendly faces.”

She said she’s thankful to those people and organizations that have donation items to their events.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid