Students pulling together

Engineering students Nick MacMillan,  Michael Marchand, Kaylee Shannon, Lynsey Poushay, Adam Cameron and Erin Dwyer get ready for Pulling for the Kids. (Bruce Bottomley Photo)

For 12 hours straight, Dal students are planning to pull a car around the parking lot at Sexton campus.

Crazy or brilliant? We’re veering on the side of brilliant since the unusual event raises thousands of dollars for charity.

“It’s kind of odd I know,” says Kaylee Shannon, a recent engineering grad and one of the organizers of Pulling for the Kids. “But it’s fun and you don’t see many car pulls going on.”

Pulling for the Kids is the Dal Eng’s major fundraiser. Last year, the undergraduate student society raised more than $8,000 for Camp Triumph, a summer camp for children ages 8 to 17 who are living in families affected by chronic illness or disability. This year, they’re hoping to raise $10,000 in support of the Halifax Regional Children’s Aid Foundation.

The event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 5 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Participants take turns pulling the cars (there’s two of them) around the parking lot at the corner of Queen Street and Spring Garden Road in teams for five for 15 minute shifts.

“We’re still looking for more participants,” says Ms. Shannon. “You don’t have to be in engineering and you don’t necessarily have to be a student. We’d love staff or faculty to come out too.”

Pulling for the Kids isn’t the society’s only fundraiser. Last term, students supported the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Fund, CIBC Run for the Cure and the Movember campaign. In fact, society members just returned from the national conference for the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students where they were voted the most charitable engineering society.

“There’s great momentum among the students to help out,” says Ms. Shannon.

For more information, see: Pulling for the Kids