Flood of support smashes HALO fundraising goal for ‘Free Fry Day’

HALO CEO Paul Carolan said it was an emotional morning for his team seeing the explosion of community support.

“We’ve always known that HALO held a very special place in people’s hearts,” said Carolan. “But, to see it quantified with lines down the streets and people doing what they can to keep this program going is unbelievable.”

Earlier this month, HALO sounded the alarm that due to issues posed by the COVID-19 pandemic they would be ceasing medevac operations by July 1 if provincial funding was not secured.

The UCP government has since denied HALO’s request for emergency funding to the tune of $3 million and have since turned to the public for immediate help.

“We do what we do so we’re there when people need us,” said Carolan. “Right now, we need people and they’re coming to the table.”

Organizers had originally set a $100,000 target for the day with stops in Medicine Hat, Burdett, Taber and Lethbridge to raise funds.

Thanks to corporate donations and a flood of donors within the first hour at Western Tractor, they had already raised $140,000 by the time the truck had left for their second location.

“Myself, I haven’t had to use HALO but I know other people who have,” said donor Jerry McGarry. “Definitely we need to support it.”

Carolan confirmed they had raised $31,000 at the Medicine Hat location and $41,000 at the Burdett location and said he wasn’t able to see the end of the lineup when he arrived in Lethbridge.

Various representatives from Cypress County were on hand for the first hour of the fundraiser including reeve Dan Hamilton and deputy reeve Richard Oster who assisted in providing the french fries to drivers.

Cypress County have been among many local rural municipalities who have supported HALO over the years and have been calling on the provincial government to step up to the plate.

“We can not let them close down for even one month because they won’t come back again if that happens,” said Hamilton. “This is a time where we have to get behind them, we have to support them, we have to find a sustainable way to make this work.”

The event also saw first responders pitch in such as Redcliff RCMP and Cypress County Fire directing traffic and keeping the queue moving.

“We got an excellent working relationship with HALO,” said Cypress County Fire chief Kelly Meyer. “We’ve utilized them multiple times for incidents where ambulances couldn’t get to.”

McCain was able to donate 7,500 bags of french fries worth over $40,000 for the event, which was aided by donations from local potato producers and the help of more than 50 Western Tractor volunteers.

Along with being able to assist a community staple in HALO, Western Tractor president Steven Dyck told CHAT News that it’s a sign of the local agriculture industry’s commitment to community especially during trying times.

“Agriculture communities are stepping up behind all of this,” said Dyck. “We’ve got a number of potato producers that have made some sizable donations to this event and it makes us feel really good.”

There is no word yet if Friday’s fundraiser will be enough to prevent HALO from powering down to only their single-engine helicopter on Monday, however Carolan said he will be looking at the financials closely over the weekend to see if that’s possible.

HALO will be tallying the final amount following their final stop in Lethbridge on Friday afternoon and will be releasing the total money raised.

Whatever that final number is, Carolan’s takeaway will be the southern Alberta community stepping up in the hopes of keeping their program alive.

“We mean it when we say every penny counts,” said Carolan. “So, there will be lots of pennies today, but it all goes to making sure the helicopter is available when they need us and that’s what we’re here for.”

by Scott Roblin

Flood of support smashes HALO fundraising goal for ‘Free Fry Day’

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