Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre will call on the community to help with a barn raiser of a different sorts on April 6, as it looks to rebuild following the devastating fire they had earlier this winter.
Best of all there’s no heavy lifting required that evening, but instead plenty of hijinks and laughter in the form of a comedy fundraiser.
Local comedian/mentalist Buzz Collins will provide the entertainment, Pita Pit will provide the food and veterinary assistant students from St. Lawrence College will host a silent auction, all taking place at the Napanee Lions Hall that night starting at 7 p.m. All have volunteered to donate their time and services that night, allowing for 100 per cent of the proceeds to go to SPWC’s efforts to rebuild the barn. The gesture was a particularly nice one on the part of Pita Pit, as the fire at SPWC broke out the same day they were due to have their building inspected by the fire marshall. Instead it was delayed as the marshall was called in to examine the wildlife centre fire.
As for Collins, he too is doing a favour for the centre by waiving the fee to his show, which mixes mentalism with comedy and laughter.
Tickets for the event, which are on sale now, are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. They’re available at SPWC at 8749 County Rd 2 in Napanee, Deadleaf Distinguished Gentleman, Gray’s IDA and Pita Pit.
Tragic as the Jan. 5 fire was that claimed the live of a pot-bellied pig and rabbit, the wildlife rehabilitation centre is making the most of it.
“We have sort of altered Sue (Meech’s, executive director of SPWC) barn layout so that we could fit the aquatic facility that we’ve wanted to build for a couple of years for water birds,” explains Leah Birmingham, assistant director at SPWC. “That’s the silver lining of it all. Hopefully we’ll have a better building that will better suit the current needs at Sandy Pines.”
The April 6 Barn Raising fundraiser is the first event the centre has been able to hold following the fire, as they’ve slowly but surely picked up the pieces.
“A lot of people in the community reached out around the time of the fire and wanted to come out and help out in some way and we were unable to at that time to put anything together, we were just dealing with the fall out from the fire,” said Birmingham.
Though the original structure was insured for $50,000, that money will still fall short of the cost to clear out the rubble and build the new structure. Construction of the new and improved building, led by Tulloch Construction Ltd., is expected to begin in May.
“It looks a little less of an eye sore and a little less harsh and a little bit more like its moving towards the next stage, the rebuild stage,” said Birmingham. “As long as (the burned out rubble) was there, it was like a scar that kept reminding us. It’s nice to move forward with it.”
The new structure is still in the design phase so the total cost is not yet known at this time.
*Edit: this article was edited to reflect the fact that Buzz Collins’ show will focus on comedy mentalism/mind reading and not hypnosis*