Kayak Raffle

The annual Canoe Raffle has again been a solid fundraiser for Friends of the Fox River (FOTFR). In the past, with generous donations, FOTFR has presented premier canoes for the benefit. Kayaks are clearly more popular than canoes these days, so this year we shifted to offer a pair of lightly-used kayaks. We know and appreciate that many ticket buyers are motivated to support FOTFR and others in hopes of the actual prize. 

The Winner is

Congratulations to the winners, Terry and Michelle Cicero of St. Charles. That’s great news, but their story is an interesting tale too. FOTFR occasionally offers guided canoe trips as a silent auction items in fundraisers for organizations we support. The Community Crisis Center is one of those organizations. At their 2025 annual event, the Cicero’s friend Jon was the top bidder.

The trip was arranged for a few weeks ago, and included Terry and Michelle as guests. It was a wonderful excursion on the newly free-flowing section of the Fox River from Buffalo Park to Carpenter Dam. It’s a special trip, bordered by Kane County Forest Preserve on both shorelines. The bird activity was especially robust on that trip, with appearances of multiple eagles and an osprey. It was a fun-loving group of families.

Some call canoeing together a test of marital harmony. That day, I wasn’t sure if Terry and Michelle were enjoying the trip as much as the others. At the conclusion, as we loaded the canoes back onto the trailer, I circulated our Kayak Raffle poster with the QR code. Terry later purchased 20 tickets. One of them was the winner.

The Bigger Story

The raffle drawing was at Scorched Earth Brewing Company in Algonquin. When the winning ticket was drawn, we called Terry’s number but we had to leave a message. I later was able to connect with Terry to make arrangements for the prize delivery. He shared how excited his sons were. When I arrived, he was playing catch with his son Jack who had been on the trip with us just weeks before. He looked familiar to me, but I didn’t make the connection. When I saw Terry, I made the connection to the trip, but not exactly to who he was. When Michelle emerged from the house it clicked for me. Now the couple that struggled a little with canoe navigation as a team could be free to enjoy the Fox River as commanders of their own individual kayaks. We had a good laugh about that.

River Magic

That’s not the end of the story. As I prepared to leave, Terry handed me a $200 donation and a cash contribution for “gas money” for the delivery effort. This is another story of the river magic that FOTFR enjoys. From our support of another organization, came a relationship with Jon, and an opportunity for selling a few more raffle tickets. And beyond that came the sharing of a river experience, winners of the raffle, and yet an additional donation. There were many winners.

Watershed Warriors

Rivers are Life Is an organization with a goal of undertaking 1000 projects that impact rivers by 2050. Their initial technique is to produce films of River Heroes that inspire others into action. Three years ago, World Touch Productions’ (Thomas and Wade Balsamo) film “Watershed Warriors” was released by Rivers are Life. This award-winning short film has gained FOTFR some international and local notoriety. Rivers are Life has continued to support FOTFR through social media and developed school curriculums for 2024 and 2025 It’s Our Fox River Day (IOFRD). This year, they launched The World Rivers Day Global Impact Award. It was a “most votes wins” competition involving 10 nominees from their films. At that time FOTFR was in full throttle with the final IOFRD work and the kayak raffle. A small FOTFR team put together a campaign to recruit votes. We are a humble organization, but this gave us an opportunity to profile our various impacts. Our Friends rallied, and FOTFR impressively earned nearly half of the total votes cast in the Rivers are Life program. Thus, FOTFR was the honored winner of $1000 and special merchandise. Thank you to all who supported this through your social media shares and votes. Clearly another Together WE Keep Fixin’ the Fox example.