Portage College is tracking down funding with the help of the Mantracker. On Sept.
Portage College is tracking down funding with the help of the Mantracker.
On Sept. 23, star of the hit television series Mantracker star Terry Grant, will be at the Portage College Cold Lake campus as their guest speaker for this year's Building Futures Gala.
"The whole event is going to be tailored to the hunting, camping, outdoor activity type of folk," said Charmaine Jennings, corporate event planner for Portage College.
The gala, which features a silent auction, dinner and the presentation, is taking place at the Lakeland Inn in Cold Lake, and starts with cocktails at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner, and Grant's speech.
The presentation will feature anecdotes about his time as Mantracker, his interests in the wilderness, and his time as a member of the Alberta Foothills Search and Rescue Team, and Chief Scout for Scouts Alberta.
"I'm going to be telling people about my experiences... I am going to talk for 10 to 15 minutes about how I went from cowboy to Mantracker, and then I am going to open the floor to questions," Grant said.
"He was the original (Mantracker), and it is really great because he is going to talk about his experience... it's not just for tracking humans, he'll tell us about techniques that he uses for tracking animals, for hunting or just in general... so it'll be interesting for all types of people," said Jaime Davies, communications supervisor corporate marketing for Portage College.
Jennings added, "He is more of an outdoorsy person, and we find that our Cold Lake community is pretty focused on the hunting and camping and outdoor activity type of stuff, so we thought it would be a good match for the community."
"We plan to entertain our guests to an outdoors theme," said Dr. Trent Keough, President & CEO of Portage College. "We want this event to be open to family, and also celebrate the hunter gatherer skills of men and women living in this beautiful area."
The event will feature activities, including a scavenger hunt, where participants purchase a bingo card and find the items on the card throughout the event. The first one to complete the hunt successfully wins a prize.
The event acts as an annual fundraiser, with all proceeds being used to help expand the college programs and campus.
Jennings said, "Every year, the money we raise from the event goes towards expansion of the Cold Lake campus... In terms of infrastructure, we are trying to build a learning commons on campus so there is a place where our students can sit and study and work on group projects."
In regards to funding the expansion of college programs, the funding doesn't pertain to any certain program areas, mostly due to the inability to determine which programs will require expanding in the future. For example, the Lac La Biche campus currently offers a hairstyling program. Should it be of interest in the Cold Lake area, the course could be offered at the Cold Lake campus using the dollars raised from this event.
"Right now we are just trying to get the money raised to look into the future as to what the community calls for," noted Davies, who added the funds are used to support the Cold Lake campus, which in turn supports the community.
Fundraisers such as this are high on Grant's list of importance.
"I do a lot of different fundraisers around Canada, and most of them are for a pretty worthwhile cause."
Grant, who has never been to the area, said he looks forward to taking in the landscape during his visit.
Tickets can be purchased at either the Cold Lake or Lac La Biche Portage College campuses.
