Speedway Santa spirit

By Jeremy Appel on November 20, 2017.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

Members of the Medicine Hat Speedway stood outside of Wal-Mart on Saturday with two of their racecars to collect donations for the Medicine Hat News Santa Claus Fund.

They bared the cold from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to collect toys, food and cash for the SCF, which assists low-income families at Christmastime.

Trevor Stratton, a racecar driver at the Speedway, said he’s been collecting donations for the SCF for 12 years.

“This is the warmest one we’ve had,” he joked, adding that they often “cheat” by going inside Wal-Mart for shelter periodically.

Darryl Maclean, another racecar driver at the Speedway, said that Wal-Mart is a good location at which to solicit donations due to its visibility for locals.

“They volunteered for us to come here, because everyone in Medicine Hat shops here, so it gives us great rapport and it gives them great rapport as well,” said Maclean.

He said the two racecars parked outside, each blanketed with gift and food donations, are used to draw further attention to the fundraiser.

The SCF tells them each year what sort of items to collect. This year, their focus is on toys for children aged three to 12.

“We focus on different age groups every year,” said Maclean. “This year, it’s the younger children and teenagers.”

They never expect a specific amount of donations.

“We don’t expect to get a pile,” Maclean said. “We just appreciate what we get.”