Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday night was the Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Queen Coronation where Taylor King, Oskaloosa junior, competed against six other women and was announced the 2009 queen.
“This has been absolutely amazing,” King said during her acceptance speech. “I’m so glad to be a part of it.”
What: Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Parade
When: Tuesday, March 17 at 1 p.m.
Where: South Park
The coronation was just one of the fundraising events for the Parade Committee, which has earned about $50,000 so far to give to four local charities, Roger Browning, public relations chairman for the Parade Committee, said. The committee started collecting donations mid-February.
When the committee first formed 22 years ago, $800 was donated to the March of Dimes. By the parade’s third year, rather than donating leftover money to local charities, the committee decided to make donating to charities its main focus.
“Since starting, we’ve donated $479,000 to various charities in Douglas county,” Browning said.
As a queen candidate, King spent the last two months going to committee meetings, getting ready for an auction and collecting donations from about 50 local businesses. King said she estimated she had spent about 20 hours a week working with the committee, preparing for and attending different events.
“I’ve never raised money for children before,” King said. “It’s really rewarding to have that experience.”
The auction, a 5k run and dart tournament have raised thousands of dollars for the Parade Committee so far.
“With the economy like it is now, I’m pretty surprised with how many people were still willing to donate,” King said.
The charities chosen this year were the Lawrence High School Positive Support, GaDuGi, Lawrence Parents as Teachers and the New York Elementary Boys and Girls Club. The charities will receive $1,000; $5,500; $20,000 and $20,000, respectively.
GaDuGi is a 24 hour safe center for adult and child sexual violence victims to receive support services.
Sara Russell, executive director of the organization, said the money the center would receive would go toward purchasing equipment for a child-friendly interview room in the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department.
“There will be toys and an easel for them to draw pictures if they need to show what happened and some anatomically correct dolls to show what happened,” Russell said.
GaDuGi, a Student Senate funded organization, was one of about 30 charities that applied to receive money from the St. Patrick’s Day funds, and one of the four that was chosen.
“It was a complete delight because this is a needed service for our children,” Russell said. “To be able to have a group of people that say, ‘We believe in the work you do and that kids are important,’ that’s always profound for us.”
The last event before the parade is the Luck of the Irish Poker Run on Saturday March 14. Participants will ride motorcycles to designated locations in Lawrence, Topeka, Oskaloosa, Toganoxie and back to Lawrence. At each stop, riders will collect one playing card and whoever has the best poker hand at the end of the ride wins half of the money donated from entry fees.
— — Edited by Sam Speer
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