On Saturday, October 23rd, 2010 Cherry Insurance coordinated a Charity Challenge with the Saskatoon Blades aimed at raising food for the Saskatoon Food Bank and funds for the Denny Carr Secret Santa Foundation. With the help of many sponsors and supporters, the event went off without a hitch.

Food bank donations brought by Blades fans were collected at the door by a Cherry Insurance / the Together is Amazing crew. Together is truly amazing as we collected 174 lbs of food (79kgs) for the Saskatoon Food Bank. With the match from Shaw Communications and Campbell’s that total triples to 522 lbs of non-perishable food items donated in total.

As the Saskatoon Blades took on the Medicine Hat Tigers, Cherry Insurance then sold raffle tickets for a 42” Panasonic plasma-screen television to the 3,622 fans. Local Saskatoon mascots (including Cherry Insurance’s “Inarek” the alien) came out to support the cause and after the second period of the game they competed in an on-ice obstacle course to see who would get to draw the winning ticket from the raffle.

It was a close obstacle course competition but in the end, the Blades’ mascot Poke Check narrowly beat out CJWW’s Holly Cow. While “Inarek” the alien licks his wounds from the defeat of the obstacle course, he can take solace in the fact that all competitors want a re-match to beat Poke Check- who may or may not have had a little help at the end. (Keep watching the“What’s New” section of this website to see a video of the race.)

At the end of the night the $697 dollars raised from the raffle was matched by Cherry Insurance for a grand total donation to the Denny Carr Secret Santa Foundation of $1,394. Del Toth of Saskatoon took home the grand prize television, and as an added bonus, the Blades beat the Tigers 4-1.

Cherry Insurance would like to thank everyone who contributed to both worthy causes, and all of the sponsors who helped make the event the success that it was.

A special thanks goes out to the Saskatoon Blades, Together is Amazing (Shaw Communications and Campbell’s), Traxx Footwear, Uniglobe Carefree Travel Ltd, North Ridge Development Corporation, FGC John Deere, Dodge City Auto, and Audio Warehouse.

And to the mascots who rallied around the event – Saskatoon Police Service’s German Sheppard Sarg, Sparky the Fire Dog, CJWW’s Holly Cow, Saskatoon Blades’ Poke Check, and Cherry Insurance’s Inarek – thanks for the entertaining race.

Check out the photos from the "Whoops... are you insured?" obstacle course below. 

The mascots line up and get ready to dodge the FGC John Deer toy tractors. The only real bottleneck of the race - find a matching boot, sponsored by Traxx Footwear!

Around the Dodge City truck they go...

Through the Uniglobe Travel beach scene...

Holly Cow takes a tumble beside the North Ridge Development Corporation door jam losing her first place spot. Poke Check leads to the finish while the rest of the mascots finish the race.

"Inarek" takes a breather. Poke Check selects the winning ticket with the help of Cherry Employee Andrew McDougal.