An up-and-coming country singer, whose family owns 10 of the Tim Hortons restaurants in west Langley and Cloverdale, used her voice to help send under-privileged kids from Langley to camp today.
For the better part of an hour on Wednesday morning (June 1), Lanie McAuley entertained a crowd of between 40 to 50 coffee drinkers outside the Tim Horton's at 203rd Street and Douglas Crescent.
"Obviously I'm a little biased, but she is pretty good… she attracted a lot of attention," boasted her older brother Greg, who helps their parents (Paul and Marcy) in operating and managing the local shops.
She released her first single to radio in February and already enjoying strong play on the country charts, but still jumps at any opportunities to perform in public – and she was more than willing to help out this "worthy cause," Greg said.
Like other artists, including former Langleyite Aaron Pritchett, she wanted to perform to help send local children – all from low-income families – to the Tim Hortons camp outside of Banff.
The camp experience, Greg explained, has changed the lives of many local children.
"It's more than simply sending them off to camp for a day," he elaborated, noting the experience offers the children camaraderie, counselling, and leadership training in a bonding and fun environment – many of them returning to camp several times through their youth.
"It transforms a lot of lives," Greg said, inspired by a Surrey youth who recently share his story, and explained how his first visit to camp was the first time he was ever on an airplane. Today, in large part thanks to the camp, he is now an engineer building airplane engines.
Even though Greg grew up in the business (born a year after his folks bought the original Langley Tims on Fraser Highway near the bypass in 1982), it wasn't until he joined his semi-retired parents in the management of the local restaurants in 2014 that he realized the true "importance" of Camp Day and the impact it has on local lives.
Since then, Greg said, he's met and actually hired people who at one time were recipients and has heard some "impressive" stories about how the camp changed the lives of these young people.
Last year, Tims locations throughout North America raised more than $12.4 million (sending close to 18,000 kids to camp) during Camp Day, more than $14,000 of that was collected by the McAuley's nine local restaurants (their 10th location didn't open until March in Clayton Heights).
During Camp Day, the restaurants donated 100 per cent of all coffee (and other hot beverage) sales to sending kids to camp.
While much of the money is typically raised during the daylight hours, Greg said it's not too late to come down and make a help out. Technically, he said, Camp Day runs from 5 a.m. on June 1 to 5 a.m. on June 2.
"So, if you're getting off the graveyard shift, and want to stop in for that much needed coffee, it's not too late to help out."
