Frank Buwalda and Terry Young pretend to be human flies as they rappel down the side of the 18-storey north tower of the Delta Hotel.
At Ottawa’s first Drop Zone event organized by Easter Seals Ontario, participants were given the opportunity to be a “superhero for children with disabilities.”
Late last month, participants, or superheroes as they are called, raised at least $1,500 by climbing down the outside of the 18-storey Delta Hotel & Suites on Queen Street in a harness with ropes and pulleys anchored to the roof.
“We do this event nationally in most major cities. Ottawa was the only major city we had yet to host the event in,” says Krystal Wallace, the Ottawa fundraising chief for Easter Seals and organizer of the event.
Wallace says Easter Seals raised $97,000, greatly surpassing the fundraising goal of $60,000.
All proceeds go towards helping children with physical disabilities.
“That money will go towards . . . purchasing mobility equipment,” says Wallace. “As well, it will fund kids to go to a summer camp that’s fully accessible.”
Tim Henry, building manager for Morguard Investments – a national sponsor of Easter Seals – says the event was such a success that senior management at Morgaurd wants to get involved and make the event grow in upcoming years.
“Nobody knew much about it, and we’re going to make it bigger and better next year,” says Henry. “My goal is to double our amount we raise for next year and I think we can do it if we put a little effort into it.”
Being a “superhero” and raising money for these youngsters and their families is the main goal of this event says Wallace, but she says it is also an opportunity for people to do something outstanding.
“A lot of people can challenge themselves, while changing lives at the same time,” says Wallace.
The main difficulty in bringing this event to Ottawa, she says, was finding a building that people could rappel from.
“We were lucky enough to come across Morguard Investments who we rent from,” says Wallace.
Morguard, which is also a national sponsor of Easter Seals, manages the Delta Hotel & Suites facility, so it was happy to host the event.
Henry also participated in the event. Dressed as Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four, he says he led a team of eight Morguard staff down the side of the building.
“I was a team leader so I had to do it,” jokes Henry about rappelling down the building despite his fear of heights.
“It was a challenge,” he says. “That was one of the appeals to me – I just wanted to see if I could actually do it.”
Wallace says challenging oneself is an important concept behind the event.
“A lot of kids that we support do face challenges on a day-to-day basis so this is sort of a way for us to relate to the challenges that they face and to do something out of the ordinary,” says Wallace.
Lisa Riopelle, a participant in the Chicken Farmers of Canada team – nicknamed the ‘Flying Chicks’ – says this event pushed her out of her comfort zone.
“To be honest . . . I can’t even imagine someone who was scared of heights doing it because it is really high and once you’re up there, that’s when you realize how high it really is.”
But this did not stop her from going down the building twice and she says she would “do it again in a second.”
For Riopelle, the challenge was not just in going down the building, but in raising as much money as she could. She says she set a personal goal of $2,000, and raised $2,915 – an amount that she says was beyond her “wildest dreams.”