Firefighters win by a hair
Cathy Dobson
Twenty teams of brawny go-getters showed what they are made of at the Sarnia-Lambton YMCA Jerry McCaw Family Centre Friday.
Not only did they all push a 13,000-kilogram school bus across the Y’s parking lot in 20 seconds or less, they exceeded all fundraising goals.
“It’s an amazing day and a great event,” said the Y’s regional manager of operations Joe Cebulski. “Our manager Paul Skuza came up with the idea last year and it’s been so successful in raising money to send kids to camp.”
Friday’s Push the Bus event generated just over $15,000 in Sarnia and sent the region-wide campaign total among 16 participating Y branches over the $100,000 mark.
In Sarnia, the money raised is enough to pay the cost of 100 kids attending the Y’s summer camp for a week, said Cebulski.
“I am just so impressed with the community support we get for this,” he said. “Camp isn’t only fun for the kids, it pushes them out of their comfort zone so they grow and develop confidence.”
Sarnia’s emergency services were big supporters this year. The firefighters won the day with a time of 15.5 seconds, just ever-so-slightly ahead of the Sarnia Police Services team that clocked in at 15.53 seconds, pushing the bus about 30 metres across the parking lot.
“Not bad considering we were dead last in 2022,” said firefighter Trayce Shaw. “It’s been a great day for us. All that work we did at the gym really paid off,” he joked.
Winning members of the Sarnia Professional Firefighters Team included Devon Easter, Rod Miller, Ryan Alderman, Chadd Nelson, Trayce Shaw and Dani Girard.
