Participants at the Spin Studio Prince Albert (John Lambiris/Facebook)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Stars Air Ambulance

Sweating for a cause

Mar 25, 2019 | 5:56 PM

A number of people turned out to the Spin Studio Prince Albert Saturday to work out for a good cause.

Sweat for Stars was organized by the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers in P.A. and aimed to raise money for Stars Air Ambulance. Union Vice President John Lambiris told paNOW the air ambulance service was one they felt was important to support.

“We had two officers use the service in their personal life and without that service those two wouldn’t be with us today,” he said.

Lambiris got the idea for the fundraising event from a similar one in Saskatoon. To take part in the event people had to get together a team of four and raise a minimum of $100.

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“Each person would have the 45 minutes on the bike and then the next person would jump on and have their time,” he said.

According to Lambiris, there were around 60 riders who took part in the fundraiser and 15 to 18 people worked the event in volunteer capacities. Many of the volunteers worked at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary or the spin studio. Those who took part in the fundraiser tended to be from the wider community.

Going in, Lambiris aimed to raise between $5,000 to $6,000, but ended up surpassing this original goal raising a grand total of $11,540.

In preparation for the fundraising event, Lambiris approached Spin Studio Prince Albert owner Desiree Hesson about the idea and found lots of support.

“She was on board 100 per cent,” he said.

For her part Hesson, who prior to her current career worked in corrections, explained Stars is often overlooked.

“They’re unspoken heroes. You never hear about them until all of a sudden you hear about them and it’s one of those causes, in my opinion, you kind of forget it’s there because you know 90 to 95 per cent of us are never going to have to use it,” she said.

Hesson said once Lambiris approached her and suggested putting on the fundraiser things moved quite quickly.

“Six weeks later we had the event on Saturday, March 23,” she said.

Going forward, Hesson said fundraising for Stars at the studio at this time of year hopefully will be a regular event.

“Myself and John have full intentions of making the fundraiser an annual event,” she said.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn