$30,000 team expenses raised within one week
by Tom Sasvari
M’CHIGEENG—The Manitoulin Mustangs Robotics 6865 Manitoulin Metal Team has received tremendous support in its GoFundMe fundraising campaign and is blown away by the support it has received on and off-Island in attempting to raise enough funds for the entire team to go to Houston for the World Championships this week.
“The kids are blown away by the support,” stated MSS coach Yana Bauer. “Everyone wants to make sure no one on the team misses out on going.”
“This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen or been involved in before,” said Ms. Bauer. “We received over $11,000 in donations (toward the goal of $32,000) over the first 24 hours of the fundraising campaign, and people are donating all kind of amounts, $1,000, $500, $20, and they are providing nothing but best wishes. The kids are blown away by the support.”
“Kids from small rural schools can achieve great things in life and make a difference in the life of others,” said one person who made a donation. “We believe in you!”
“This is a once in a lifetime experience for these students. Youth are our future! I went to Manitoulin Secondary School. Happy to show my support,” wrote another donor.
“These students are amazing! Hardworking! And so deserving of this opportunity! So excited for them,” wrote another person.
Another text stated, “You make us proud. Go Mustangs.”
The Go Manitoulin! World Champions! GoFundMe donation page has a statement written by members of the MSS team. “It’s not just private and big southern schools that can win at Robotics. Your Manitoulin Team won the top award at the provincial championships that qualified us for the world championships in Houston!”
“We are so grateful to all the generous sponsors who got Manitoulin this far! Manitoulin kids are so excited to compete internationally! Competing internationally is not an expense many Manitoulin kids can afford. Your champions need help with air travel, accommodations and registration fees. Every little bit will helps, no donation is too small, and we thank everyone for your support and encouragement!”
As has been reported previously, the MSS team won the prestigious FIRST Impact Award at the provincials to qualify for the world championship. “When we qualified for the provincials the kids said we should look at putting a GoFundMe fundraising campaign together.”
Ms. Bauer told the Expositor on Saturday, “We are going to the world’s. We are 85 percent of the way through the fundraising campaign and there are still a lot of donations coming in and money we know that is coming. We received a huge cheque this week of $10,000 from Manitoulin Transport. And Ionic Mechatronics of Lively said they would pay for the flights for both our team and the Lo-Ellen team. We will have to pay them back, but this lifted all of our stress because we know we are going to be able to raise enough through the campaign and we are now sure we have the flights paid for and booked.”
“We have had support from so many people,” stated Ms. Bauer. “McMaster University Engineering department had donated $10,000 for the team to go to Hamilton for the provincials and now they have donated another $5,000 to our team to go to Houston. MP Carol Hughes helped us to expedite passports so everyone can go to the US. She has constantly been checking to see if all 14 members of the team has received their passports and the last few, we will be able to pick up on Monday. Debby Turner gave us Manitoulin shirts to wear in Houston, as well as maps, and we have Canadian flags to go to Houston. RedBow held a barbecue fundraiser Friday to raise money for us and A.J. Bus Lines took up a collection from its drivers to help fund our trip.”
She pointed out the MSS team has not yet received confirmation of how much the Rainbow District School Board (RDSB) would be providing to the team for the trip to Houston.
“We had a doctor who donated $1,000 individually for the team, as well,” said Ms. Bauer. As of Saturday morning, “144 donations have been made on GoFundMe to the team and we have received an additional 24 donations from businesses and individuals.”
“Caterpillar has been calling asking if they could help. And there has even been a Go MSS Robots Team sign posted on the sign going into Manitowaning,” said Ms. Bauer. “Helen Siksek, a lady who is from Gore Bay and lives in Dallas, Texas for half of the year, will be travelling and staying in Houston while we are there. She has told me she will be providing snacks and water for the team, art supplies, laundry detergent, money for vending machine snacks, basically all the things that we will need while we are there. And she will be cheering us on at the nationals. She is going out of her way to help us out.”
“And our robot, Bumblebee, is already on its way, so we have to go,” said Ms. Bauer. “We had to trim it down to get it into the shipping crate. We had to take it apart and put it in a trailer to travel to Sudbury. FIRST Robotics is paying for all the shipping and customs costs. And Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School which has done this before, and has qualified for the Worlds along with us, is packing the robot into the crate for shipping to Houston.” She explained the team is not allowed to bring any tools in the crate or on the trip. “So, we will have to borrow tools when we get to the competition in Houston.”
“It is simply amazing the support we are receiving,” stated Ms. Bauer. “The sense of community, and the love and support the team has received has been tremendous. We have had celebratory remarks online from the Wiikwemkoong High School team on our going to the worlds. They helped us get started initially, and they have been very supportive. I think people love the story of a small school competing against big schools from elsewhere. Schools from North Bay, Sudbury, Gravenhurst all have been encouraging our team. There has definitely been that feeling that we are representing all of Northern Ontario.”
“We’re going to win the world championship,” stated Ms. Bauer confidently.
