The dragons took to the Thames River recently, but there was no raging.
The Raging Dragons of Chatham-Kent, a dragon-boat-racing club, held a fundraising contest over the summer that featured two winners, each with a friend, enjoying a gondola trip on the Thames.
The winners took to the water Aug. 30, and enjoyed charcuterie on the river compliments of Candied Chaos of Chatham.
Following about 45 minutes on the water, the winners were to dine at Mamma Maria’s.
Lisa Clyde, president of the Raging Dragons, said the club raised $10,000 for the Chatham-Kent Hospice, selling 500 tickets at $20 each.
Last year, the team raised $13,000 for Special Olympics, taking part in the Polar Plunge.
This time around, the fundraising was much warmer, and closer to Clyde’s heart.
“I had a close customer who had been coming in here (Shady Pines) forever. She just passed away at the beginning of the year,” the owner of Shady Pines said. “I was very impressed by the entire (hospice) operation.”
Initially, there was concern of selling that number of tickets.
“I was surprised at the interest, which is funny considering we were wondering if we could sell 500 tickets,” Clyde said. “But we ended up getting there no problem. As soon as you tell people it’s for the hospice, it’s pretty easy.”
The challenge was to turn dragon boats, which are long canoe-style racing boats, into gondolas for the time on the Thames.
“Our coach, Mike Powell, always had a dream to turn our dragon boats into gondolas,” Clyde said.
