GUELPH – More than 200 University of Guelph students, staff and members of the broader community put their backs into supporting a worthy cause during the annual Tractor Tug for Tots on Oct. 24.
“It’s heavy,” event chair Jill Ohm said of the burden teams took on during the fundraiser, adding the exertion is worthwhile.
“It’s fun and rewarding, and you know you’re doing something good as you’re doing it.”
The event, which has been a fundraiser at U of G since 2008, sees two teams racing side-by-side, each using their brute strength and a thick rope to pull a tractor a short distance.
Teams pay a registration fee and do fundraising, with all proceeds supporting a local charity that benefits children.
Past beneficiaries have included Guelph Wish Fund for Children and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Guelph.
This year, the charity is the Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington.
“We’re donating specifically to the Keep Kids Fed Program,” said Ohm, adding the Tractor Tug executive votes on which charity to support.
“That program kind of spoke to us as agriculture students.”
The program, formerly known as Food and Friends, provides student nutrition programs, including breakfast, lunch and snack programs, in schools in Dufferin and Wellington counties and in Guelph.
Under the new program name, the Children’s Foundation has also taken on administration of the former Food4Kids Guelph organization, which provides take-home packages of food to children from food-insecure households to help ensure they don’t go hungry on weekends and school holidays.
Past editions of the Tractor Tug have raised as much as $13,000 or $14,000, said Ohm.
“We’re trying to beat that this year with a goal of $15,000.”
While donations were still being tallied, a U of G spokesperson said on Monday this year’s preliminary total is $14,500.
Ohm said 20 teams were signed up to compete this year, including teams of students, faculty and some external community teams.
Teams pay $200 to get in on the action, ensuring at least a minimum amount of money gets raised.
“Usually we just each donate $20 and form a team,” said Spencer McKay, a third year student who was competing as part of a team of 10 agricultural science and agri-business students.
They had dubbed themselves simply “the Tuggers.”
Some other teams got a little more creative. For example, one team calling themselves the “Can Killers,” competed dressed in cardboard hats and breastplates made from empty beer boxes.
A “Junior Farmers” team presented a more subtly unified look with matching jeans and plaid shirts.
Each race involved two “tugs,” with teams switching tractors in between to ensure each team got the opportunity to pull the heavier and lighter tractors.
The tractors were provided by Premier Equipment and Equipment Ontario.
“They have been involved every year, and we couldn’t do it without them, and we love having them involved,” said Ohm.
She noted there were prizes, not just for the team that performed best in the final, but also for best-dressed and fastest overall time.
“We also have a prize for the team that raises the most money,” she said.
Lots of people who hadn’t pre-registered also had the chance to contribute to the cause and to test their strength with an event feature that was new this year. In exchange for smaller donations, passersby could take part in a mini tractor tug, pulling a lawn tractor.
There were no prizes for this part of the event, just bragging rights, but many people happily stopped to give it a try.
“That’s a way that anyone walking by can feel involved,” said Ohm.
“It’s great to get more people involved.”
