Twenty-five luxury-car owners paired up with celebrity navigators for the inaugural Rally for Kids With Cancer Scavenger Cup this past weekend, the final weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival. The fund-raiser, chaired by actress Goldie Hawn, and benefiting the Sick Kids Foundation at the Hospital for Sick Children, included three events created by Solutions With Impact.
"This is a Solutions With Impact event that we created for Sick Kids. We’re hoping it will become annual, and we’d like to actually take it nationwide, much like the larger runs," said Chad Brincheski, director of event marketing, who noted that Solutions has worked with the Hawn Foundation on other projects. "When we were putting the details of this event together we asked her if she would participate. She’s a huge philanthropist, so she was excited to be able to come out to Toronto and support Sick Kids."
The Scavenger Cup kicked off with a cocktail reception at Muzik on Friday night. The reception provided drivers—required to raise a minimum of $25,000 each to participate—with the chance to choose a celebrity to help them navigate the city during Saturday's scavenger hunt, which followed a brunch for 150 guests at Harbour Sixty Steakhouse. Participants received a driver's manual filled with maps, tips, and their first clue before Hawn waved a checkered flag at the gate.
"Because the celebrity and the driver are in the car for a relatively long period, four hours, we actually put trivia questions together, and it is a scavenger hunt. It’s not a race. We were very careful that we didn’t want people to feel as though they had to speed…and there’s no alcohol," Brincheski said.
The noon-hour scavenger hunt included six pit stops throughout the city. At the Hospital for Sick Children, teams raced electric cars against children from the hospital; and at the Hershey Centre teams had to navigate an obstacle course, set up by Peel Regional Police, in a Lexus. "The drivers have to drive it very quickly...that will give them the adrenaline rush that they’re looking for," Brincheski said.
Teams also visited the set of eTalk for interviews with Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim and sang a verse of 'Life Is a Highway' with Tom Cochrane at a karaoke pit stop.
Clips from the singalong were edited into a music video and played for participants who attended a gala dinner at a private home in Mississauga Saturday night. Celebrity navigators included Alfonso Ribeiro from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, former Toronto Raptor Jerome "JYD" Williams, Nip/Tuck actress Kelly Carlson, singers Matt Dusk and Melanie Doane, Toronto Argonauts former coach and player Michael "Pinball" Clemons, and actor Ving Rhames.
Event sponsors included Rosseau Asset Management, Rasko Diamonds, Grand Touring Automobiles, Northwest Lexus, Shaftesbury, Aquarius Men's Wear, Cosmopolitan Toronto Hotel and Spa, Legendary Motorcar Company, Pantages Hotel Toronto, Peel Regional Police, Air Canada, Pfaff, Harbour Sixty Steakhouse, Adrenaline Media, 104.5 Chum FM, CTV, eTalk, Toronto Sun, Car Guide, Canadian Auto World, Investment Executive, Suburban Life, World of Wheels, Concierge and the City, Evian, Forest Hill Car Service, Insight Productions, Nascar Speedpark, Serengeti Eyewear, and the Printing House.
