The Police & Peace Officers’ Memorial Ribbon Society hosted their first fundraiser on Saturday August 18, 2018 at the Imperial Theatre in Vancouver. The Society partnered with Bristol Records, who brought in the Country Strong Tour with Top 20 Billboard country artist Rod Black and Top 40 US charting country artist Hillbilly Vegas. We had many corporate sponsors and many corporate donations to help in raising money for the Memorial Ribbon Scholarship.
The night started out with a meet and greet involving many VIPs and dignitaries, including the US Consul General Katherine Dhanani and law enforcement officers. Our volunteers helped throughout the evening registering guests, selling Ribbons, 50/50 tickets, and other duties. Former Global TV personality John Daly co-MC’d the event and made the night flow smoothly. Once the music started, people were up and dancing and having a great time. Some of the silent auction items caused a few bidding wars and donations from the floor were generous. Overall, our first fundraiser can go down as a huge success with all the proceeds going to a great cause.
The Memorial Ribbon Scholarship was created in 2011 and supports the children of fallen officers with post-secondary education scholarships. To date we have supported 12 children of fallen officers, with two having graduated from their post-secondary programs in the last couple of years. The Society chose to create the scholarship so the families of fallen officers do not have to be burdened with trying to find the finances to pay for post-secondary schooling, allowing them to focus on healing. With the funeral of the two Fredericton police officers being conducted on the same day as the gala, the night was quite poignant – there are now seven more children that the Society will support once they reach post-secondary school age.
I would like to thank all of the sponsors who helped make the night a success, with a special thank you to Pauline Jackson and Jovan Vujatovic who organized the whole night.
If you wish to support the scholarship fund with a donation, please go to our web page at https://www.memorialribbon.org/donate/.
Thank you,
Shawn Coady
President, Police & Peace Officers’ Memorial Ribbon Society