SMILE Mass' Amazing Race
| Hours: | past event |
| In/Outdoor: | Indoor, Outdoor |
| Cost: | see below |
| Category: | Fundraisers |
Did you happen to see all those limousines lined up in front of Bistro 20 last Saturday afternoon? They were waiting to take participants on a scavenger hunt fundraiser that benefited SMILE (Small Miracles in Life Exist) Mass, a non-profit dedicated to providing vacations for families with children who have multiple disabilities.
The purpose of SMILE’s Amazing Race of Sudbury was to fundraise and draw attention to the organization and its goals of assisting those whose needs cannot be met by traditional vacations alone.
“Traveling with a handicapped family member is difficult,” said Lotte Diomede, president of the SMILE Foundation. “SMILE wants to make the transition from home to a vacation as seamless as possible,” she continued.
“We’re looking to develop our first property on Cape Cod, where it’s virtually impossible to find a handicapped accessible home for a vacation stay,” Diomede stated. As a mother of a child with multiple disabilities, Ms. Diomede knows firsthand what needs to go into even a short stay away from home.
Handicap ramps, roll in showers for wheelchairs, and wider doorways are just a few of the standard amenities planned for the SMILE Mass home.
To help raise money for this effort, The Amazing Race’s participants paid for their entry in a fun filled afternoon that included being transported by limousine to, among other places, the stores at Shaw’s Plaza and Mill Village. Teams of four needed to solve puzzles and hunt for answers based on clues provided by the race’s organizers.
One of the stops, at the Sudbury Police Station, involved fingerprinting. And another, at MacKinnon’s, had teams searching the store for a rare Scotch. Participants were also asked to buy dog biscuits at Especially For Pets, and use the athletic equipment at In Shape. Each completed task scored points for the team.
The most difficult task by far was to locate a number of headstones in the cemetery at Town Hall. “We had to search out headstones to answer questions, which was difficult given many of those markers are hundreds of years old,” said player Tom Serven. Mr. Serven and his wife Heidi, and their neighbors Julianne Woo and David Shapiro were the winners as the team with the most points scored.
At the end of the hunt, participants regrouped at Bistro 20 for a buffet dinner and a silent auction of items donated by more than 40 area businesses.
“The business community has been really supportive,” Ms. Diomede said. “SMILE is just trying to help special needs children and their families get a much-deserved vacation, and these businesses who have donated goods and services have helped us get one step closer to that goal.”
For more information about SMILE Mass visit www.smilemass.org or call
617-967-7755.
| COST | ↑ top |
past event
| WEBSITE | ↑ top |
| LOCATION | ↑ top |
120 Boston Post Rd., Sudbury, MA, 01776 map
| RELATED LINKS | ↑ top |
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