Winter has come to an end for another year and Rotary Winterama proved to be another successful fundraiser for local schools.
Students in eight local schools raised $18,000 for their schools in an unusual virtual trip journeying to the North Pole during February.
Six of the eight local schools planted their school mascots at the North Pole, with four of those schools continuing their march up and over the Pole and down into Europe!
G.C. Huston made it all the way to Rome on March 3rd, the last day of Winterama, while Northport, EPESCS (Port Elgin Central)and St. Joseph’s made it into Norway. SDSS and Hepworth both surged and made it to the North Pole on the very last day of the campaign. Amabel-Sauble journeyed to a spot only 139 kms from Alert, the northernmost settlement in the world, while Arran-Tara made it to Baker Lake in Nunavut.
Students skated, skied, snowshoed, sledded, walked and ran their kms from February 3rd to March 3rd, tracking them on a website designed by Nuclear Promise X (NPX). While virtually trekking their way through the Arctic, students could compare their progress with classmates, their school and with other schools. The website also compiled each school’s kms to simulate the journey to (and past) the North Pole.
The top km class in each school won its own recess activity bucket, provided by Winterama organized by local Rotary clubs. Each bucket contains a large variety of play equipment to keep these Arctic trekkers active at recesses. The top pledge earner in each school also earned a $25 cash prize and the top four pledge earners in all of Winterama earned bigger cash prizes from Rotary.
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Funds the students raised went directly to their schools’ special projects and nutrition programs. Arran-Tara, Northport and Port Elgin Saugeen Central student fundraisers for instanc helped to fund important playground upgrades not covered by BWDSB funds, while the other five schools are deciding how these important funds that students earned will most benefit their schools.
While students were busy keeping fit with winter activities through Winterama 2025, seven adult community groups were also racing alongside them, trying to huff and puff their way to the North Pole as well. Team Rotary led the pack and hoped to reach the North Pole by the spring equinox on March 20th. Friend of Rotary, Tina Hrinivich, led the way with 321 personal kms, followed by Dave Bertrand from Southampton Rotary (244 kms) and Erin Zorzi from Port Elgin Rotary (231 kms).
The Port Elgin Saugeen Central staff team was led by teacher Carolyn Matthews followed closely by the town of Saugeen Shores, led by team captain, Kerri Doll. Northport Cougar Staff, Saugeen Shores Police, Saugeen Shores Firefighters, Nuclear Promise X and the G.C. Huston staff trailed these leaders.
Generous corporate and private donations help to fund the Rotary Winterama program. Platinum Sponsors include the Society Of United Professionals and NPX Innovation and the Gold Sponsor was Ontario Power Generation (OPG). Silver Sponsors included Bruce Power and the Port Elgin Rotary Club.
The long list of valued corporate sponsors included Acepsis, Ben Rier, Bridge Electric, Dunlop Fuels, Fermi Solutions Inc., K.K Electric, Partner Ag Services, Peninsula Ford, Owen Sound Attack, Patterson Landscapes, Saugeen Shores Chamber of Commerce, Saugeen Shores Winterhawks, Tedford Re/Max, Town of Saugeen Shores and the Township of Georgian Bluffs.
Rotary Friend Ken Haukioja & Rotarian Jim Wade also made generous donations of their Leafs tickets for the successful Winterama Leafs Tickets Raffle, which was won by Steve Weis from Tara (gold level tickets) and June Van Bastelaar from Port Elgin (purple level tickets). Many adult participants in the Community Groups’ race also donated privately to Winterama upon registering for the race, as did members and supporters of all three Rotary clubs involved.
The 2025 Winterama Committee would like to thank all corporate and private sponsors for helping to make this event a fundraising success for local schools and for Rotary youth programs in our area.
Tara was the top fundraising school, second was Northport, third was G.C. Huston
