Royal LePage Wildrose Real Estate has organized a fundraiser for the Mountain View Emergency Shelter Society (MVESS) building fund.
It will take place Friday, May 3 at the Pomeroy Inn & Suites.
The event will feature dinner, a cash bar, a live auction and a silent auction.
Cocktails are at 5:30 p.m. Dinner is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m.
Tickets are $75 each and are available at Royal LePage Wildrose Real Estate offices in Olds, Didsbury and Sundre.
Through Mountain View Financial and the Town of Olds, a piece of land for an emergency shelter was made available for the society back in about 2014/2015, but as yet, there is no building on it.
The purpose of the May 5 event, dubbed the Mountain View Emergency Shelter Society Suitcase Party, is to raise money for that building.
Organizers say 100 per cent of the proceeds from the event will go to the Mountain View Emergency Shelter building fund.
One of the highlights of the night is a free reverse draw for a luxury weekend away for two.
"We're having an optional draw for anybody who wants to enter for a mystery weekend away, leaving then and there that night," says Clare Dickie of Royal LePage Wildrose Real Estate, who owns the business with her husband Merrell.
"We'll have people come with their packed suitcase. We'll do a reverse draw through the evening and the last number called, basically they'll leave then to an unknown destination that I know -- and Joe knows -- and be returned on Sunday."
Contest entrants must be at least 18 years old.
Joe Carignan, president of the Mountain View Emergency Shelter Society, is organizing the event along with Clare Dickie.
He says over the years, the MVESS has looked at locating in various buildings, including the old fire hall, but now has basically settled on constructing some sort of structure on the land made available to them.
"I mean, an ideal building, I'm told, that would suffice our needs would be $800,000 to $1 million. Well, that's not going to happen in the short term, so we're looking at some different options right now," he said during an interview with the Albertan.
"We could start basically an emergency shelter that would initially house, I'll say, one family, and then build from there."
Clare and Merrell Dickie got the idea for the fundraiser last December. Clare notes Royal LePage has been raising money for emergency shelters for about 15 years across Canada.
The Dickies indicated interest in raising money for one through their business and were told about MVESS and its need for a building. Thus, the idea of the May 3 fundraiser was born.
Carignan said if all goes well, he's hopeful an initial building could be constructed on the land in a year to 14 months from now.
"I mean, the biggest thing is I think we have to start somewhere. The society has been around for a while and tried a number of different options. So I think if we start somewhere and expand from there, is what I'm hoping for," he said.
Carignan is grateful for the fundraiser.
"It's been a huge -- I'll say learning curve -- because I haven't done it before and they haven't, but yeah, the support they've given us and everything has been phenomenal, phenomenal," he said.
Clare is hopeful this is just the beginning of Royal LePage's support for the shelter.
"I would like to think we can do something each year for these guys. I'd like to do an ongoing thing. We're kind of already talking about the planning for next year for a similar event," she said. "Shelter Month for Royal LePage is May, so May is a good time to kick off and do this. "
Clare said organizing the first one has been challenging because they only got going on it in December and because of the tight economy. But she's hopeful that now that they've organized the first one, others will be easier to set up.
