Close to thirty community members were detained, cuffed and sent to the slammer at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre on Tuesday (December 4).

This was the first Jail N Bail held in a number of years and thanks to everyone involved for being such great sports, the 6-hour event raised $6305 for Cochrane United Way programming.

The event came to be with the help of many hands including teachers and students from Cochrane's Rocky View Schools, Building Futures program whom designed and built the jail cell. Darryl Korody, one of two, Building Futures teachers, shares besides students building two homes in the Willows community, a strong emphasis has been placed on community involvement. "We have spent the last few years really trying to raise our community profile and so we like to jump at the chance when things like the Town of Cochrane, United Way or Craig from Kingsmith Homes has ideas for us. With our community involvement piece, we try to raise the profile, not just as a program, but also for the students to know what it's like to be engaged in different aspects of the community."

JoAnne Howard tries to make a run for it.

Setting a good example of community involvement is something students see with the program's partnership with Kingsmith Homes. Not only does Kingsmith Homes help facilitate the school program they donated all the supplies the students needed to build the giant jail cell that was put together that morning on site. From a student perspective, both Finn Pitman and Rocy Marr with Building Futures say being let in on the secret mission was pretty awesome. 

Marr says he enjoyed being part of the initiative despite having to do a few revisions to make it work. "I was really glad I could do this because I am helping out the community and also getting skills that can help me in my future." For Pitman, he says he was thrilled to be one of only a select few to know about the project from the get-go. "When they were telling me about it and telling me how I was going to help with it, I thought that was really cool because it's obviously a real help to the community. I was really excited to have the opportunity to help out with it because a lot of kids don't really get that opportunity as much."

Marg Stevens, United Way representative for Cochrane's Family Community Support Services Advisory Board, shares these funds along with the $2050 from a McDonald's fundraiser held on November 21st go right back into supporting the Cochrane community. "All our initiatives strengthen our position to support community health, positive change and build a strong community. All monies donated will go to fund local programs and initiatives for the Cochrane area."

Korody was thrilled to have the opportunity to have his students work on the project with the help from Kingsmith Homes. "It was a great opportunity for us to connect with the town, with FCSS and also for Kingsmith. We're really grateful we have the support from Craig (owner) to run off with these programs and we're also grateful for Rocky View Schools. We arrested two principals yesterday and another teacher from the division;  everyone was good sports, they raised a lot of money, and they knew it was for the right purpose and right cause."

A special thanks to the following businesses/organizations, prisoners and community members who bailed them out:

Prisoners:

  • Mayor Jeff Genung
  • Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Polley
  • Fire Inspector Jeff Avery
  • Senior Firefighter Dave Levisky
  • Shelly Kramer Royal LePage Integrity
  • Minister Ray Goodship
  • Carey Lee Cochrane High
  • Eddie Pohill Cochrane High
  • Murray Arnold Rocky View Learning Connection
  • Fiona Sharman and Christine Sharman Global Pet Foods
  • Denis Goodsell
  • Cochrane Light Up Elf and handler Raelle Rivoire
  • JoAnne Howard Rhonda S. Cockwill Professional Corporation
  • Dorothy Karlson Bow Valley High School
  • Brian Neave SLSFSC
  • Paul Singh Town of Cochrane
  • Jag Thind Mehtab
  • Kelly Kimmett Two Pharmacy
  • Lyndsey Kinch Killarney's
  • Brian Widahl Widahl Woodcraft
  • Crystal Payant Cochrane Now
  • Chris Puglia Cochrane Eagle
  • Stacey Scott Unbeatable Mortgages 
  • Mark Eaton Corner Coworking
  • Town of Cochrane Councillors Tara McFadden and Susan Flowers

Community Partners:

  • RVS Building Futures Program
  • Kingsmith Homes
  • SLSFSC
  • Cochrane RCMP officer Curtis Huculak
  • Cochrane Municipal Enforcement Officer Vern Burkholder
  • Cochrane FCSS and United Way
  • Taxi4U
  • Tim Hall Photography