Rapscallion and its Mug Club members have always taken great joy in taking part in philanthropic efforts. Now formally known as The Rapscallion HOPS Foundation (HOPS), these charitable endeavors continue to flourish as our official nonprofit. This past December, The HOPS Foundation board, Mug Club members and other devoted volunteers won first place in Spencer’s Christmas Parade of Lights!
The team started the process back in October to plan their winning Polar Express float. They reviewed the film to get an accurate depiction of the movie, capturing all of its intricate details. HOPS Board members Michelle Lariviere, Sierra Tucker, and Chris Lindquist worked together to make this a success.
Their “building team”, led by Chris Lindquist with the help of Steve Moorhouse, Russ Snow, Ron Scheyd, and Mike Poulin, performed the build out of the train. While Jim Lambert, expert metal engineer, built the train engine. From there this core group continued to work on the bulk of the float right up until the week of the big day. Tate Ostiguy and his students at BayPath Vocational Technical High School constructed the train wheels used on the train cart.
The group of volunteers met every Monday to pick away at all the intricate details that were seen as the Polar Express went rolled down Main Street. Ronda LaRiviere and Sierra Tucker jumped in to help with the painting.
Nothing was forgotten – Kris Scheyd built a hot chocolate cart that she filled with candy to hand out to the kids. Our walkers handed out bells in town just as the kids received in the North Pole in the movie. There was a giant golden “BELIEVE” ticket strung between the train cart and engine, a hobo and “fire” on the roof, a train horn, an overflowing Santa sack, a cotter pin, a train bell, and perfect costuming. Kids filling the cart including the little boy in the blue robe, the two train engineers, elves, hot chocolate waiters and waitresses, and of course, the conductor.
As has been done for the last three years now, the team meets at the Spencer brewery the night before parade day to add all the finishing touches. Everything is looked over to make sure no detail and no string of lights was missed. The after party at the brewery always makes for the perfect celebration right at the end of the parade route.
The main purpose of all this fun was the fundraising that was done in support of the float. The HOPS Foundation sold “Believe” raffle tickets for $10 each that went towards funding the float. Mug member Yvette Oliviero also made HOPS Foundation ornaments being sold at $10 each as well. Most of the float props and build out was done through donations so that monies raised went can go the Foundation to be dispersed back into the community. A large sum of this total came from Mile Marker 63 Disc Golf Course’s generous donation as they purchased the float after the parade to now display at the course. Additionally, $300 was given to HOPS by the Spencer Police Association for the first-place win.
This crew worked extremely hard, and it paid off! Their time and dedication show, and we are so proud that this is our Rapscallion community. Ideas for next year are already in the works. Kudos to Raps Mug Club members and the entire HOPS Foundation and its volunteers for your tireless efforts in helping those less fortunate!
The ideation, buildout, and entrance of the float into the parade was a tremendously fun endeavor for all involved, while the best part is the that HOPS raised over $2,500 for charitable local endeavors!
A special thank you to these amazing volunteers:
Michelle Lariviere, Sierra Tucker, Chris Lindquist, Steve Moorhouse, Russ Snow, Mike Poulin, Jim Lambert, Ron Scheyd, Kris Scheyd, Tate Ostiguy, Tom Lowkes, Karlene Lowkes, Tim McNeaney, Jenn McNeaney, Bill Delude, Christine Delude, Michelle Buzzell, Denis Tucker, Ronda Lariviere, Lisa Silverio, Jeff Huston, Yvette Oliviero, Norman Letendre, Terry Letendre, John Holbrook, Ray St. Peter, Jesse St. Peter, Jason MacGillivray, Jeff White, and the kiddos that came along for the ride!
