Dawson Creek Wrap Up at the Co-Op

Dawson Creek's 18 Wheels was a resounding success once again this year. With 17 Pallets of Food, 2 Pallets of Toys and $2600 for the United Way !

Events on this scale require a lot of planning and coordination, and to that end, I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Karen Brisebois at Rosenau Transport Ltd. and Riannon McVeigh of United Way! These two very special ladies spent countless hours, planning, meeting and executing this project. Not only were they instrumental in the planning, they were both on site the entire 2 day event, a total of 20 hours! Of course, they had many hands helping. We would like to thank Adam from Cat Rentals, the Dawson Creek RCMP, the Dawson Creek Fire Department, the Salvation Army and of course the many volunteers from Rosenau Transport. Karen G, Ed F, Blaine M, Bruce S, Cory H, Monique W, Rachel R and her daughter, Dave P, Randy W, Renie K, Chris L, Jessie and Adrian H. I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation to Colyn Brisebois, a former Rosenau employee who flew up from Vancouver just to help in an event that he feels so strongly about.




We had the trailer parked for two days prior to the event to generate interest and our friends at the Co-Op made sure that the Public knew what was coming. Thanks for the great sign guys!

 A Special Thank you to the four Members Of The Dawson Creek RCMP who came by, but especially Leo and Stephanie who braved the cold and the wind for several hours on our first day.

 Our good friends from the Encana Events Centre came by with a terrific donation. Thanks so much you guys for everything you do for our community!

 This event would not have been possible without the support of our Main Sponsor, The Dawson Creek Co-Op ! These guys went above and beyond. Not only did they provide us with a spot for the trailer, they provided a tent,power,  music, hot chocolate, cookies and a portable heater! To top it off, Shamir and his team put together dozens of prepackaged $25 bags of which we collected nearly 80!

 Our good friend Adam from Cat Rentals was on hand to help collect donations and man the hot chocolate and cookie table!

 The truck and trailer were a huge draw once the sun went down. We were parked right on the Alaska Highway, pretty hard to miss us. On Friday night the City Of Dawson Creek held their annual Christmas tree light up just a few blocks away on Main Street and we had volunteers down there handing out the flyers!

 We have a pretty special group of people in Dawson Creek who never fail to show up and give a hand. Our Firefighters are a valued part of our Community and we are so happy to call many of them our friends.

 The 18 Wheels event is also a great opportunity to educate people. Here, we have a poster board talking about all the great work that United Way does in the Community. Of course, we had Riannon on hand the entire time to talk about her organization and all of the good it does in the community.

 You could not ask for a more spirited, energetic champion for her cause than the one to the right. Riannon from United Way of Northern British Columbia braved bitterly cold temperatures, winds gusting to 80 kilometres an hour and long drives back and forth between Dawson Creek and Ft. St. John to make this event the success that it was. Her smile never left her face the entire time and she made a point of greeting and thanking every person who made a donation, big or small. We are privileged to work with this lady and are already looking forward to next year.

I think if I were to go through my emails, between Karen and Riannon, i have probably two dozen emails, updating us on progress, arranging meetings and making great suggestions. You two ladies are 100% responsible for the success of this event!

You can't underestimate the power of having your own fire truck front and centre promoting your cause! Naturally, we had to make sure they were parked for a quick getaway in the event that they were needed for an emergency.

 One of our first donors on Day One with a cash donation was Brett from Northern Hotshot. Brett works closely with our Rosenau Team here in Dawson and he never fails to show up when we are running a charity event!

We had many of our customers come by over Friday and Saturday bringing donations. A special thank you to our good friends over at Reg Norman Trucking who dropped by with a $500 donation that will be going to good use in United Way causes here in Dawson Creek!

 These two pretty ladies made our day on Saturday ! They are with The George Dawson Inn and came by with a $1000 donation, an amazing amount of groceries and an absolute insistence that they be involved in our event next year! Trust me, you are on the mailing list! Thank you so much for everything you do.

 Of course, we can't forget our friends at The Salvation Army who will be receiving all of the donations for their Food Bank. Though new to the area, Lieutenants Ian and Donna Rabourne were at the event frequently to help out and their gratitude for what we were doing was self evident. They also helped out with the planning and execution of the event and Donna made sure every business in Dawson Creek had a flyer. We also had Al from the Salvation Army helping out and a special Thank you to Brian who spent a total of eight hours at the event greeting the kids and having a great time....and yes, the beard is real...

Another huge contributor to this effort was our local media. Many thanks to CJDC Radio for being on location, CJDC for the TV news coverage included in this post. As well, The Alska Highway News and Northeast News for their great newspaper articles and coverage and Peace FM for their Facebook Coverage and follow up radio interview. Thank you for all you do in your community!

 We definitely attracted lots of attention over the event. Social Media was buzzing with everyone wondering why the Police and Fire Department were at Co-Op. Another great opportunity to get the message out again!

 Our trailer lights stay on year round but every year they require some TLC. As well this year, we decorated the truck. many, many thanks to my great staff at Dawson creek who punched out and helped get both units ready to go! We had many compliments on your efforts!

 Another group of people who need to be recognized are the great people who dropped by with donations just for our volunteers! A special Thank you to Krista Forshner with Krista's Kreations who dropped by with a huge tray of the most delicious cupcakes for our volunteers! Also a big shout out to the great folks at the Co-Op gas bar who made sure we had free coffee over the two day event!

 While a few volunteers manned the tables and the trailer, the bulk of our volunteers spent hours out in the cold and wind on the street waving in the public and promoting the cause! Some of these people were out there for hours without a break !

Many thanks to all of the people who made this a success! You made a difference in the lives of many people over these two days! We cannot adequately express our gratitude and we are already looking forward to next year!