Pajama party fundraiser returns for 6th year

“There are booths to shop at, booths to explore and the whole evening is free flowing. So we don’t really have any timed events,” she said.

Events include a hypnotist, a magician, free ongoing entertainment on the stage and a dance to end off the evening.

McKeaveney said since the party’s inception they have been raising money for local families in need.

She said six years ago they wanted to find something to do to which could get people out of their homes, but didn’t involve being out in the cold.

McKeaveney said every year they do something a little different.

“The very first year Blair Morgan had had his terrible snowmobile accident in a race and he was one of the [beneficiaries]. We raised money for the Give A Little Life campaign because that year they were raising money for a mammogram machine and my girlfriend had just lost her mom to breast cancer,” McKeaveney said.

She said the group has also donated to the Cancer Society and MS Society because of local people in the community affected by both diseases.

One year money was raised for the five children of a local woman who passed away from cervical cancer as well as the family of a man who was in a car accident.

McKeaveney said they also raised money for thyroid eye disease and Grave’s disease.

“Every year what we’ve done is we’ve made it our personal mandate to raise money for families or local projects that involve families experiencing medical issues,” she said.

Last year six families benefited from funds raised but McKeaveney said this year will be a little different with the focus on “mini miracles.”

“We’ve asked nurses, doctors, social workers, friends, we’re asking people to give us names of people who don’t really have a whole lot of extra anything going on for them out there and we’d like to surprise them by giving them maybe a $500 gas card or maybe paying their $500 water bill if that’s a stress for the month,” she said.

She said the money can also help towards families paying for travel costs associated with sick kids having to travel outside the city.

Most recently McKeaveney said they just bought a bus pass for a local woman.

“The event hasn’t even happened yet and we’re already finding people that we would just like to do random acts of kindness or mini miracles for,” she said.

She’s encouraging the public to submit the names of people they think could benefit from the event through their Facebook page.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t have big things happening, there’s people who are sitting at the hospital from up North that are all alone and don’t have anything, so we would just like to whip in and be able to do little random things for people,” she said.

McKeaveney said they would like to help as many people as they can.

Over the last five years the event has been able to raise $38,000, all of which has been given back to the community.

McKeaveney said they are always looking for donations and those looking for a tax write-off.

“We’re really looking for people who would consider a local, homegrown charity that they’ve watched for five years do well and benefit local people. We really are looking for local people get behind us and help us this year,” she said.

The event will feature a number of prizes and is an opportunity for local women to get out and try something different.

McKeaveney said there will also be a limo service for those who book a Princess Table for $500.

Doors open on Jan. 21 at 6 p.m.

Tickets are $30 and are only available at Cornerstone Insurance and Era Maternity.

“We’ve always tried to keep our ticket prices very reasonable because all of the money that we generate goes back into our community and the projects we would like to help with,” McKeaveney said.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid

by Sarah Wallace

Pajama party fundraiser returns for 6th year

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