As the sun rose over Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, anticipation filled the air. Peter Hanson and the Sanders Motorsport Team were back for our much-anticipated annual fan appreciation event. Despite the brisk temperatures, a remarkable crowd gathered, eager to witness the thrilling season’s culmination. Fans shared stories, exchanged hugs, and expressed admiration for the teams […]
Our 14th Annual Racing For Kids to the Hill certainly wasn’t the event we had been hoping to stage in 2020. But fortunately we were able to “Shift Gears” and ended up having a wonderfully successful “virtual” event that benefited both our hospital visit program as well as the community restaurants who have been with us since the beginning in 2007.
All of it could not have happened without the help of our amazing friends in the Grosse Pointe community who donated our “Buy It Now” items as well as our major donors, our restaurant partners and our steadfast supporters from all across the country, who bought Donate & Dine tickets or made direct donations to our mission.
First we’d like to thank our “Buy It Now” contributors – Dan LaLonde and LaLonde Jewelers, Chick Taylor and City Kitchen, Tony Eckrich and Kart 2 Kart, Gretchen Valade and Willie Jones of the Dirty Dog Jazz Café, Bill Matouk and Woods Wholesale Wine, Patrick Fabian and The League Shop, Chris Ahee of Ahee Jewelers, Mike Lefevre of Mike’s on the Water, Benson Ford and Jon Cotton. The wonderful items and experiences they donated help us reach our financial goals.
Many thanks go to our restaurant partners who agreed to participate in our Donate & Dine promotion – Café Nini, City Kitchen, Dirty Dog Jazz Café, The Hill Restaurant, Jumps, Luxe Bar & Grill and Fresh Farms Market. These restaurants are reimbursed the full face value of our vouchers when they’re used at their establishments – so it’s been a “win-win” for all of us.
We are very grateful to everyone who participated in our virtual event with particular thanks to these very special major donors – TranSystems Corporation, Peggy and Peter Kross, Rich Russell and Elaine and Jennifer Peck and the Peck Foundation, Beaumont Hospital, David and Cynthia Hempstead, Lynn and Paul Alandt, Richard Morsches, Joe Backer, Darcy and Fraser MacKenzie, Bruce Burton, Henry Ford III, Northern Trust, The Hill Association, John Eppard, Cynthia and Edsel Ford, Richard and Diane Platt, Higbie Maxon Agney, Mary Kay and Keith Crain, Bill and Jennifer Chope, Martin and Nancy McEnroe, Sam and Alaine Bush, and Warner Norcross + Judd.
Finally, thank you, Grosse Pointe, for so generously supporting our mission and helping us to continue to brighten the days of hospitalized children in our community and across the country. Here’s hoping next year we will be back on the street with flags flying, engines roaring and the community celebrating the return of Racing For Kids to the Hill.
