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Amazing Race - Continued...

Therapeutic Recreation’s Amazing Race

What is Therapeutic Recreation’s Amazing Race and why should I register or donate?

Therapeutic Recreation’s Amazing Race is a fun filled urban adventure where two person teams solve puzzles, figure out clues, find locations and complete challenges while discovering uptown Charlotte. Your registration fee ($100 for a two person team) will be deposited directly into the Therapeutic Recreation Summer Day Camp Scholarship fund that is administered through Partners for Parks, Inc. This dedicated scholarship fund
supplies financial support for pre-schoolers, youth, teens and young adults who have disabilities to attend Therapeutic Recreation Summer Day Camps. During the summer of 2010, a total of $11,000 was utilized to provide financial support for participants to attend summer day camp. All scholarships awarded were based on the economic need of the participant. This is significantly less than the amount we were able to provide for the summer of 2009. One of the realities that we had to face this summer, was the fact that there simply was not enough money to provide scholarships to all those who needed them.

Therapeutic Recreation’s Amazing Race will be held on Saturday, November 6, 2010. The race will begin in Charlotte’s Marshall Park with the first team leaving on their adventure of Uptown Charlotte at 9:00 AM. Prior to the race, all teams will participate in a pre-race meeting on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM. The meeting will be held at the Marion Diehl Recreation Center at 2219 Tyvola Road. At this
meeting, we will go over rules and expectations for the race, distribute team race numbers and t-shirts, and set the team start times for the race.

A little information on how start times will be determined. Since this race involves solving challenges, starting times will be determined by team scores in a Charlotte / Mecklenburg County Trivia Challenge. The higher the team score in the trivia challenge, the earlier the start time. So, brush up on your Charlotte / Mecklenburg County history, people, places, events and general knowledge!

Amazing Race Registration & Donation Information

* I have to admit that since they changed the date to my 40th birthday weekend, I am not participating. I do think it could be a lot of fun and a great way to raise awareness and funds for this wonderful camp. Ben has attended for four years now, always on scholarship. Read about his experiences here.

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