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Like Father Like Son singers Brad Harrison, Ted Harrison, Tony Budd and Dave Budd, entertain a crowd gathered at the Outreach Mission Fundraiser, March 5. Photo by Tamara Cunningham/Didsbury Review.

Over 100 people turned out to the Mission Outreach Fundraiser last Friday to help raise money for local families travelling to the Dominican Republic.

Fourteen children and their parents will be running a vacation Bible camp for an orphanage in Monte Cristi in the Dominican, April 4 to 11. The hope is the experience will help give the youngsters a new world perspective.

"The whole reason we are doing a short-term mission trip like this is so our kids can come along. We want them to see how less fortunate families in other countries live because I really don’t think they have a clue," said Glenn Sears of Olds.

The parents and children were at the fundraiser Friday night hoping to raise some funds to help pay the cost of flying to the country and operating the camp. They also plan to donate money to the orphanage itself.

The group had no idea how many people would turn out at the affair – which featured the quartet Like Father, Like Son and a cake auction – but toyed with a number of 10.

They got about 120 and raised $7,951.

"We were overwhelmed with the support of people who came out and the amount they spent on cakes just blew us away," said Remi Christianson, organizer.

Men from around the community, including Pastor Mike Morgan and Mayor Brian Wittal, made cakes that were auctioned off to tables as the evening’s dessert. One cake had a coin tucked inside that would give the lucky purchaser a return trip anywhere for two with WestJet airlines.

The bids went no lower than $100, for desserts like pumpkin trifle, angel food cake and strawberry sensation. A cake shaped into a yellow school bus, made by Pastor Mike Morgan, sold for $450 to a table that included Rod and Laurie Neufeld and Diana and Brian Archer. They had already bought three desserts but thought this was the winning cake, Christianson said.

The coin was actually hidden in Jim Penner’s Black Forest cake – as Ron and Bev Nelson discovered.

"I have no idea where we’ll go," Bev said, beaming.

"We actually haven’t travelled much."