At the tender age of 21 months Tia-Bella Schisler from Langley was crowned the Sponsor Queen at the West Coast All Canadian Girl Pageant’s special Canada Day Charity pageant on June 30.
She raised $3,170 for B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation with the help of her Mom.
This all natural pageant brought in a total of $4,688.62 for B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation, with girls bringing in sponsor donations anywhere from $15 to $322, but it was Tia-Bella’s whopping $3,170 donation that put them over the top of what pageant director Liz McKinnon ever expected to bring in.
When Shawna, Tia-Bella’s mom, was asked what motivated the family to work so hard for those donations, she answered, “B.C. Children’s Hospital is extremely important to my family and once we heard about this pageant fundraiser it was game on. We have a five year old son who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and congenital heart disease and without Children’s Hospital, he might not be with us today. We are so extremely lucky that our son is so high functioning and doesn’t require as much care from this fantastic hospital anymore, but knowing how many families there are that must rely on their resource so heavily made it our mission to raise the most money we possibly could.
“We are extremely blessed that our family and friends stepped up and helped and we would really like to thank Great Western Containers, Brenda Caron and Tia-Bella’s grandparents, Ken and Norma Chisholm, for making incredible $500 donations each. Also Brenda Caron’s company, Control Chemical, who made the largest single donation of $1,000. We were blown away by the generosity we met while raising money and we are honoured to have had the opportunity to do this.”
Organizers charged $15 per girl to enter this pageant with $5 from every entry going to the hospital and the remaining $10 went towards the costs of running the pageant. Every girl wore a red and white Canada themed outfit and introduced themselves to the audience. Well over 250 people attend to watch and cheer on the contestants.
Every one of the 83 girls who entered the pageant won a tiara and a gift. No one went home sad or empty handed. This was an all natural pageant and nothing like what people see on reality tv.
Eight queens and one sponsor queen were crowned with a large crown, sash, trophy and prizes. The queens were Zoey Legere (Vancouver), Violetta Kincaid (Surrey), Marlies Leuzinger (Mission), Mikayla Buick (Abbotsford), Lily Lam (Surrey), Jaidasen Walker (Aldergrove), Rose Taschereau (Cloverdale) and Yana Barschatov (Delta).
The pageant is now accepting entries into their second annual Summer Finals, to be held at the Sepass Theater in Fort Langley on July 23. For more information visit www.westcoastgirlpageant.com or contact Liz at 778-298-7979.