Manitoba Charities score big wins with Aikens donations

Last week was a very good week for two of Manitoba's great Children's Charities. Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge was proud to play a large part in the fundraising efforts for both the Manitoba Moose Yearling Foundation and for the Children's Wish Foundation. On Valentine's Day, the Manitoba Moose Yearling Foundation held their annual Gala Dinner at ice-level of the spectacular MTS Center in downtown Winnipeg. This 15,000 seat arena is host to the Manitoba Moose (AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks) and provided an interesting backdrop for the evening. Manitoba Moose players were on hand to shake hands and meet the crowd of 600+ attendees. Well known rocker and blues musician Colin James stole the show with a wonderful concert to end a spectacular evening. Aikens has a rich history of supporting local charities and this year is no different. We will be hosting a trip this summer to fish with Moose GM Craig Heisinger as well as Moose coach and former NHL great Scott Arniel. The trip was sold at auction for a record price, eclipsing last year's mark by nearly $800!  Check out the Moose website at http://www.moosehockey.com/community/thankyou/ Friday night was the Children's Wish Foundation's Casino Royale event. We were lucky enough to be a part of this great event for the first time last year. The trip that we auctioned off was hosted by Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks. The trip was a tremendous success last year and so Jonathan didn't hesitate to host the trip again this year. Once again, the auction was fast and furious and in the end, it also sold at a record price - beating last year by $1,300!!! Congratulations to Claudio Reda of Winnipeg on his winning bid. You can check out the website at http://www.childrenswish.ca/fileupload/storage/MB-2007-12-13-CasinoMoulinRouge2008-e.pdf We are proud to support wonderful charities such as these and are happy that we can help raise money and awareness for children in need. As always, these trips are special and always are a lot of fun. We look forward to the opportunity to host everyone involved this summer and we will make sure that when they leave they'll want to bid higher and break more records next year!!!