30,000 Rubber Ducks Dumped In Pond To Raise Funds For Boys And Girls Club In Tennessee

A total of 30,000 rubber ducks were thrown into a fountain pond to raise funds for the Boys and Girls Club of the Tennessee Valley. The fundraiser was held at the World’s Fair Park in Knoxville over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

The tens of thousands of rubber ducks were poured into the World’s Fair Park fountain by a dump truck in the early afternoon. Participants spent $5 to sponsor a duck. Each was labeled with its own number for identification purposes. The bright little rubber floaters “paddled” their way around the pond and towards the finish line.

The winner of the rubber duck race was set to win a $10,000 prize. Sherry Vermillion went home with a whole lot more money in her pocket after her duck won the race during the 20th annual event. The duck sponsored by Velva Phillips came in second, earning her $5,000. Leslie Barbour was given a $2,500 Pilot gas card, and Drew McElyea won a Cub Cadet mower from Home Depot when their ducks crossed the finish line in third and fourth place.

According to the Ducks Help Kids website, the $10,000 purse was courtesy of Humana.

The Boys and Girls Club chapter in the Tennessee Valley serves the Loudon, Anderson, Blount, and Knox county area.

The following is an excerpt from the group’s website.

“Thanks to fundraising efforts from the ‘Our Kids, Our Future’ campaign, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley broke ground on a facility that will serve more kids, more often, in a more meaningful way. The Club broke ground on a new 54,000-square-foot complex in late March as part of a plan to expand our reach in East Tennessee. The campaign will increase the number of youth served by the Clubs annually. The new complex includes a swimming pool, gymnasium, technology center, medical center and administrative offices.”

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley was founded in 1943. The organization is focused upon providing positive and recreational opportunities to youth in the five-county area around Knoxville. The Boys Club was founded in 1943, the Girls Club in 1963, and then the two groups merged in 1990.

At total of 15 club facilities now exist in Knox, Blount, Loudon, and North Anderson Counties — and employ more than 260 full time and part time staff.

[Image via: Screengrab / WBIR]