The Battle of the Businesses founders set out with a very lofty goal and then promptly shattered it.
Just before the annual November battle began to see which business could raise the most money for Community Christmas Care, the two founders of the battle, Diana Frederickson and Melanie Bradley, outlined a bar goal of $55,000 with a stretch goal of $75,000.
With the final tally counted in early December, the battle surpassed their goal and even narrowly beat the stretch goal by raising $77,194.
“It actually brought Mel and I to tears,” said Frederickson. “We weren’t expecting to hit that mark. It was really a shocker.”
A total of 36 businesses joined the battle this year when the local police, firefighters and search and rescue units are included.
That number also surpassed the goal of having 30 businesses participate.
Frederickson said having the community be so invested and involved was equally as important as the total money raised.
“One, the money is phenomenal, but two, that's so much knowledge that's out in the community and so many people being involved,” said Frederickson. “It just shows that they support each other and they understand the need.”
Frederickson said that Community Christmas Care can have about 140 extra hampers this year compared with last year.
“They had 240 hampers last year and they have 380 this year. So that extra is going to really, really help,” she said.
Part of the friendly competition, of course, allows the top-raising business to take over the Sunny Chibas' sign for a short period of time. But, once again, Frederickson and Sunny Chibas retained control of the sign for another year.
But Frederickson admitted the competition was close.
“There's definitely some stiff competition out there,” she said. “So I think next year, the competition will be even stiffer.”
Despite just wrapping up a whirlwind of a November, Frederickson said she and Bradley will get back together in January to go over what went well and also what they can improve for next year. With the Squamish competition continuing to grow, Frederickson said they will be looking for other community members to help.
“We're hoping to find some people in the community that want to give up some hours of their life and help us grow this even bigger,” she said.
For more information about the Battle of the Businesses, visit its Facebook page.
For more information about Community Christmas care, visit CommunityChristmasCare.com.
