“This woman has done so much for the community and is always the first to ask: ‘What can I do to help?’,” declared Doug Anthony, Kin Club event chairman. “This fundraiser (roast) proved exactly how much she does mean to our community and to so many individually.”

Roasters fire up

The stage for the November 30 fun event was set up as a hair salon, “Salon Ya Ya Ya”, where a little fun was poked at Ivanski’s hair. There were lots of laughs but even more tears, both from Ivanski and the audience. She was welcomed with a pink-gloved flash mob audience during her entrance, with several standing ovations throughout the evening for the accomplishments in this fully community-invested woman’s life.

Pink suit-clad Mayor Pierre Leroux, MP Francis Drouin, representatives of Victoria’s Quilts, the Canadian Cancer Society and others presented Ivanski with gifts and presentations. This audience, filled with family, friends and acquaintances, was loud and proud in expressing their love and pride for this amazing woman. A final video filled the hearts of everyone attending with such pride, it was deeply felt throughout the room.

Party time

Auctioneer John Rogers, a good friend of the Kin Club of Russell, riveted the audience with his outstanding live auction patter, selling off a variety of items provided by various corporate and individual sponsors, to help raise money for a future aquatic centre. More than $20,000 was collected towards the project from the night’s shenanigans.

During the evening Tara Shannon serenaded Ivanski with her angelic voice, singing Wind Beneath Your Wings.

The Kin Club of Russell is proud to bring community projects to reality with its outstanding successes since its inception, including raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Sports Dome. Their next big project is May 30, 2020, at the Embrun Arena, where they will host a large casino night with the Toronto-based group “ABBA Story” doing two 50-minute sets of ABBA’s greatest hits.