Moncton Fundraising Campaign Breaks Guinness World Record
MONCTON – In an effort to support the Beauséjour Family Crisis Resource Centre, businesses, organizations and individuals in Southeastern New Brunswick have managed to break a Guinness World Record for the longest line of banknotes.
Through an initiative dubbed The $5 Challenge, presented by Medavie, $5 bills worth $251,030 – that’s 50,206 bills – were strung together spanning 7,435.57 metres. It covered the ice surface at Avenir Centre on Wednesday.
This surpassed the previous record of 3,434.40 metres that was set in Illinois. Official Guinness World Records Adjudicator Andrew Glass was in Moncton to officiate on Wednesday.
Presented by Medavie, the challenge kicked off in the fall. The event had originally set out to raise $200,000 with 40,000 $5 bills covering a distance of a little over 6 km.
Medavie and RBC contributed $20,000 each, while Avenir Hearing pitched in $10,000. Christine Duguay, owner of the Cap-Pelé Esso, raised $56,000 for the cause by rallying her community.
Staff at the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport sold YQM socks and donated the proceeds to the campaign. Real estate agent Melissa Doucet donating a portion of her commissions and The Weldon Group Realtors contributed $2,000 in $5 bills.
J.D. Irving, Limited, Atlantic Lottery, DNA Swag, Dieppe Imaging, Mistral, Hansen Signs, USVA Spa Nordik, O’Brien Material, MLA Monique LeBlanc, Brian Cormier and The Foundation for a Better Future also supported the fundraising event.
The money will support the Beauséjour Family Crisis Resource Centre, a charitable organization that offers counselling and support to those experiencing emotional difficulties. It also serves victims of family violence and sexual assault, as well as their children.
The $5 Challenge is part of a campaign called Courage, which has been ongoing for the past two years, to raise $4.2 million to build a full-service, 24/7 centre in Shediac to accommodate the demand for services.
The centre’s offers immediate services, 24/7, to more than 220,000 people from Alma to Rexton and east to the border of Nova Scotia. More than 40 per cent of its clients come from the Greater Moncton area. It operates a free, by-appointment clinic at Headstart in Moncton on weekdays.