For many, standing on the roof of a 20-storey building in Downtown Vancouver, looking at the sidewalk below, would be an unsettling experience. Dangling from that roof by a rope could be considered crazy.
But for Abbotsford’s Clayton Ingle, it’s becoming a tradition.
For the fifth year in a row, Ingle will take part in the Easter Seals Drop Zone, taking place Sept. 11 at 999 West Hastings in Vancouver.
The fundraising event helps send children with special needs to an Easter Seals camp.
Participants meet on the roof of the building and rappel down 20 storeys. However, in order to take part, each participant has to raise a minimum of $1,000.
Ingle is the only person in B.C. to take part in the event for five consecutive years and has raised more than $10,000 in that time.
“I would really like to break my record year last year, when I raised just shy of $3,700,” he said. “I’m asking my hometown of Abbotsford to help me out and sponsor me and at the same time help a kid with special needs get an opportunity to go to an Easter Seals camp.”
All money raised stays in B.C.
Ingle is the current president of the Lions Club of Abbotsford and is an active volunteer in the community. The annual Drop Zone event is one of many ways he tries to contribute.
He’s worked with people with various disabilities for 14 years, and for the past four years, he has been helping a young Maple Ridge man named Tyson Aubin.
“I work five days a week with him and we do lots of things together, including going to the gym, swimming, walks in his wheelchair, and lots of concerts,” said Ingle.
Aubin has helped Ingle with his fundraising efforts in the past. This year, a photo of the two of them was chosen to appear in a commercial promoting the event.
Anyone wishing to sponsor Ingle can visit thedropzone.ca, click on “enter” and look for the Vancouver link. Then click “sponsor” and look for Ingle’s name. Or, visit the direct link on the Facebook event called “2012 Vancouver Drop Zone.”
The BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities provides Easter Seals’ programs and services like Easter Seals’ houses and camps. With events like the Drop Zone, the group is able to continue to build programs and services to promote self-esteem, self-confidence, and a sense of accomplishment for children with disabilities in the community.
All donations made to Easter Seals through special events, corporate partnerships, and individual donations go directly to fund programs including: week-long camping experiences for over 850 children at Easter Seals camps, at no cost to their families/guardians; and accommodations for more than 32,000 bed nights each year at Easter Seals Houses in Prince George, Victoria, and Vancouver while children receive necessary medical treatment at nearby hospitals.