The Township of Langley Firefighters Charitable Society is galloping off in a new direction with its fundraising.
The Spark of Hope gala will be taking place at Thunderbird Show Park during the Summer Fort Welcome CSI3* elite equestrian event Aug. 11.
“We anticipate being our largest fundraiser of the year,” said Zach Funk, a society director.
Tickets are $275 per person or $2,000 for a table of eight for the Friday evening gala and can be purchased through the society’s website tlfcs.org. There are 300 tickets total and the event is 19-plus.
“We’re starting to see some traction,” Funk said about ticket sales.
What do people need to bring?
“The only things people need to bring are their appetite and their generosity,” Funk said.
The gala kicks off at 4 p.m., the dress code is cocktail semi-formal, and the event features personality Fred Lee as emcee.
“It’ll start off with a international show jump competition in the Grand Prix arena directly adjacent to [our] event,” he said.
Saba Bistro is sponsoring the gourmet goodies being prepared by its chef, Simone Hurwitz. Funk said there will be hors d’oeuvres and appetizers, an oyster bar, a martini bar, sangria, champagne, and more culinary surprises.
“The one group is called the Brooklyn Duo. It’s a husband and wife on a grand piano and a cello,” he said. “And then we have a jazz trio opening for them.”
There’s going to be a balloon pop with prizes range from a few dollars up to thousands. People purchase balloons during the evening and they are popped towards the end of the event.
“We also have our famous truck of wine raffle which is an opportunity through raffle to win 17 cases of wine that gets picked at the end of the night,” he added.
There’s a variety of other games and activities to help fill the coffers of the society.
“There’s quite a bit,” he said about the prizes and goodies. “I think as to not to give away too much, but I would say that the estimated value of prices would exceed $50,000.”
That’s possible because of continuing support from the community.
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“The [community] has been extremely generous over the years with all of our programs and our events,” Funk noted. “It’s always exciting to see the community come together for these causes and support us.”
The community support allows the society to continue its work. The proceeds from the gala are not earmarked for a specific cause but will be used for the many TLFCS causes and initiatives. The society has in recent years provided funds to such efforts as the Langley Hospice Society and its pantry and snack program, Langley Foundry, an organization called Lifted started by musician Dallas Smith to help make mental health services accessible to all, the Langley School District Foundation food programs, and more.
Over the years, it has also supported the BC Professional Firefighters’ Burn Fund, Canadian Cancer Society, Basics for Babies, and Muscular Dystrophy Canada.
The society has clothing bins at some Township fire halls with proceeds going into the society’s snack program and other community initiatives.
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Spark of Hope is the society’s fifth gala. In recent years, the event was called the Mayor’s Gala and hosted by the Township mayor in September.
The charitable society wanted to continue with the gala format but freshened up.
“Conversations with Thunderbird started back in January, and we were talking about different venue options… trying to find a new space and a new angle or direction or theme to the events to keep it fresh,” Funk said. “So the conversation started earlier in the year and as things progressed and ideas came together, this style of event kind of just took shape organically.”
The Summer Fort Series features competitions at various levels between Aug. 9 and 13.
The gala is one of the society’s biggest events of the year, but it has various ways to raise funds. The society, around since 2014, has started a new tradition by doing a barbecue for Canada Day in Fort Langley during events held in the village. Recently the society hosted 144 golfers at Newlands Golf Course for its fourth annual golf tournament, an event that raised $110,000.
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