Miracle Theatre has hit two major milestones as a result of recent fundraising efforts from the presentation of two Norm Foster plays in repertory.
The announcement came Tuesday, June 17, that they exceeded the fundraising goal of $200,000 with a grand total of $209,433.40. The money will be used to create the Prince George Seniors’ Emergency Fund to aid elderly members of the community who are unable to meet the cost of basic necessities such as adequate food, rent, medication and household essentials.
Including that sum, Anne Laughlin and Ted Price of Miracle Theatre hit another milestone by raising a grand total of $1,064,713 that has gone to worthy causes in Prince George since 2015.
They knew they wanted to make a huge impact in the aid of a vulnerable population, our seniors in need, so that was when they decided to do two plays to raise the extraordinary sum of $200,000.
Price and Laughlin are longtime theatre professionals who led the productions of Here on the Flight Path and Lunenburg, which were presented at ArtSpace above Books & Co., on a rotating schedule throughout April.
The entire proceeds from the project are now under the trusteeship of the Prince George Community Foundation in a permanent endowment fund. Every year the disbursements will be used by the Prince George Council of Senior to assist those most in need.
“I want to thank the Prince George Community Foundation as they take on the endowment fund because not only do they have to manage it immediately, they also have to take it on year after year,” Price said. “We have such an incredible confidence in them because we just know things will be done properly not just now but into the future.”
Laughlin and Price also thanked Owen Lubbers, owner of Books & Co., who donated the use of ArtSpace, helping Miracle Theatre reach their fundraising goal.
“That was three months of no rent and when you’re raising funds that really helps,” Price said.
The day after the announcement of the upcoming project, Price and Laughlin were at Studio Fair presented by the Community Arts Council of Prince George & District where thousands of people get a head start on their Christmas shopping in Prince George.
“We were able to get the word out about the plays and raise awareness for the cause,” Laughlin said.
“We want to thank Eli Klasner and Lisa Redpath from the Community Arts Council for their help. That event launched our ticket sales campaign and so many people bought the Christmas vouchers for tickets to get us off to a good start.”
Laughlin also thanked members of organizations and community groups that helped spread the word throughout Prince George.
“Our volunteers were also wonderful,” Laughlin said. “Especially our load-in and our load-out team. Now that is physical labour. We had kids coming and helping us because a lot of our volunteers are seniors so that made it easier and we had people come in to paint and we had our costume team and it took a lot of people to get it all ready.”
Price talked about the actors who performed in the two plays.
“One of our greatest pleasures is so dip into the Canadian theatre talent pool when it comes to actors and for those of you have seen our shows regularly you can see why we keep doing that,” Price said.
“That's because there are just some terrific people who are very skilled and very experienced. Theatre people are a very special breed who care more about the script and the production than things like it being in a big flashy city or venue if the show is good — like jazz musicians who play in smokey little clubs — or what used to be smokey — if the experience is good for a performer they come and we are so lucky on that score.”
Laughlin and Price wanted to thank the community for answering the call to help set up the Seniors’ Emergency Fund.
“This town has to be up there with the most generous and supportive anywhere,” Laughlin said.
“All this generosity shows us the kind of people that live in this town. They are an enormous part of what makes Prince George such a special place for us all."
Betty Bekkering, board chair of the Prince George Council of Seniors board, which will curate the Seniors’ Emergency Fund, said she was emotional just thinking of the impact the endowment fund with have on those in need in the community.
“This is going to be huge for seniors,” Bekkering said.
“As a non-profit organization we have to keep trying to find money everywhere whether it’s grants or hoping for donations and we know that with this endowment fund we will be able to access funds when they are needed urgently.”
Bekkering told a story about two senior women who recently came into the Resource Centre located at 1330 Fifth Avenue for some help.
“They were living in their car and they did not want any of the grocery items that we are able to offer,” Bekkering said.
“All they wanted was Ensure because they didn’t have any cooking facilities and that was quite heart-breaking because we did want to give them bags of groceries from the pantry that we have just for that but they didn’t want that because they weren’t able to cook.”
Because the Prince George Seniors’ Emergency Fund is an endowment fund people can continue to donate to the cause through the Prince George Community Foundation at https://pgcf.ca/fund/Seniors-Emergency-Support-Fund.
