THUNDER BAY – The United Way of Thunder Bay, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Griffon, is recreating a long-standing fundraiser event with a twist.
The Great Lighthouse Rescue will see thirteen groups of castaways, representing agencies supported by United Way, find themselves stranded out at the breakwater Lighthouse on Lake Superior on June 28 and in order for each of the crews to be rescued and brought back safely to Prince Arthur’s Landing, they must send out an S.O.S. for donations.
“There's no limit to how much we can raise,” said Albert Brule, CEO of United Way Thunder Bay “The more that we raise, the more good we can do in Community.”
Lieutenant Commander Farley Farn said that the idea for the lighthouse rescue came from the Naval Reserve Division located in the city which was looking to get back out into the community and promote the reserves.
“Most of our Members have civilian jobs in the Community and only work part time for the Navy, so we wanted to increase our community presence as everyone knows in the news, the Canadian forces is hurting for personnel,” he said.
There's job shortages, we need more people, so we said how can we get out in the community and let people know what we do, so when we heard the United Way, were looking at possibly reinvigorating their billboard rescue, we got the idea, we're like, why don't we strand somebody on the water?”
Long-time United Way supporter Cliff Friesen has agreed to serve as Honorary Commander of Operation Lighthouse Rescue and is challenging business and community leaders to join in as Honorary Captains and help raise funds to undertake one of the 13 rescue operations.
Friesen will match all funds donated up to $25,000 and all funds will go to support community programming and services to meet the needs of local people.
The rescues will be executed by the Royal Canadian Navy and the sailors of HMCS Griffon but honorary captains and rescue crews will have the opportunity join aboard a 24ft Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat and go out to the Lighthouse to rescue the stranded agency castaways and return them safely to the marina along with a few high-speed turns and evasive maneuvers as they speed across the harbour!
Rescues will be undertaken from Pier 3 throughout the day from 11 a.m. until approximately 5:30 p.m. and the event will also include a community BBQ, high-powered binoculars to observe the rescue missions from shore, a photo area, United Way and HMCS swag booths, and other local vendors.
Brule said that with the city’s support of the Billboard Rescue Fundraiser over the years, he’s confident the the Great Lighthouse Rescue could become the next big annual fundraiser.
“We weren't even sure if we were going to be doing an event like this for 2023,” he said. “But people are clamouring, our agency partners were asking, can we do something again together? So that's the beauty of this event it brings together our agency partners, they put together teams and they get to work together and it's super fun.”
For more information and to find out how to help out, visit the United Way of Thunder Bay's website.
