Fundraising goal beaten at inaugural Motionball Caledon event

By Zachary Roman

The Caledon community came out in full force to support Special Olympics last weekend.

On September 17, the first ever Motionball event in Caledon was held.

Motionball is a national non-profit that raises funds and awareness for the Special Olympics movement through social and sporting events. Founded in 2002, Motionball has grown immensely over the years. Across Canada, Motionball supporters have raised over $14,000,000 for Special Olympics.

The Bolton Village Residents Association (BVRA) worked with Motionball to bring an event to Caledon, setting a fundraising goal of $15,000. In total, attendees and sponsors raised $16,700.

The event was held at Eidelweiss Park in Bolton, and a variety of sports were played such as soccer, bench ball, cornhole, and frisbee.

Sharan Basran of the BVRA explained there were eight teams participating in the Motionball event, including teams from the Peel Regional Police, Caledon OPP, Caledon Fire and Emergency Services, and UPS. 

“The cool part is we have Special Olympics athletes on all of the teams,” said Basran. “The idea is to have a really friendly model… for everyone to be interacting with one another as one happy family.”

Basran said she wanted to thank Ward 5 Regional Councillor Annette Groves for her leadership and hard work bringing the “beautiful national event” to Caledon, and explained she's hoping to make it an annual tradition that grows each year.