by Evan Matthews | [email protected]
One young woman is giving thanks to the Legion, among other locals, for supporting her dream to travel to Montreal in her pursuit of elite gymnastics.
In June 2017, the Jasper Royal Canadian Legion donated $1,000 to 11-year-old Jasper gymnast Kiara Davis, as part of her fundraising efforts to travel to Quebec and attend École nationale de cirque — the Montreal Circus School.
“Originally I got the idea from the (Jasper) gymnastics club,” says Davis. “A few years ago another girl had gone, and she said it was a lot of fun.”
Another one of Davis’ teammates had plans to try out in 2017, and her coach suggested she try out too.
All the pair had to do was crack the top 60 applicants to get in, and they did. After that, Davis began working toward fundraising the $1,800 she needed for the program.
“I started fundraising a lot of money from bottles. I’m very thankful to everyone who donated bottles,” says Davis, adding she even had “regulars” donating to her.
Davis’ mother, Jaquie, says the $1,800 for the program was very reasonable, as the fee included airfare, meals and accommodations. The girls stayed on campus at the national circus school, where many Cirque du Soleil athletes train, according to Jacquie.
The weeklong program alone cost $900.
“Kiara had written a letter to the Legion, because we do come in here a lot, and they called us back,” says Jaquie. “They were more than happy and excited to give a donation, which made us really excited that they were so on-board and so behind her.”
