WASA Ice Out Challenge Vandalized
February 17, 2023
The Westborough Athletic and Social Association (WASA) annual Ice Out Challenge fundraiser is usually a fun way for the community to donate money towards Westborough students as well as enter to win some money for themselves. This year, on February 5 the Ice Out Challenge ice sculpture was vandalized and therefore the fundraiser ended early.
The vice president of WASA and chair of the Ice Out Challenge Mark Higgins stated, “This incident was certainly a bummer. The WASA Ice Out Challenge got off to a great start but the sculpture was damaged with three weeks left for people to submit guesses. Since the majority of guesses were submitted during the last few days, we were not able to raise as much as we hoped, there is a significant upfront cost for the sculpture so we need to recoup that money before we can fund raise.”
The WASA ice sculpture was located on the front lawn of Hasting Elementary School, and was protected by a barrier to make sure nothing can knock it over or cause it to break.
“The Ice Out Challenge is not only a great fundraiser but it also helps generate community spirit and some fun during the middle of winter. The committee hopes to continue it in the future.” Higgins added.
However, due to this incident, WASA had to offer the money back to those who voted on when it would melt, as well as they had to make up the cost out of their funding to pay for the sculpture, which was an expensive purchase. This annual event was unsuccessful this year, and rather than raising money, it ended up causing WASA to lose a great deal of profit.
When asked where the organization will go from here Higgins stated: “WASA remains committed to supporting the community programs that we have in the past…We had to offer everyone their money back that submitted a guess. The majority of participants graciously told us to keep their guess as a donation.”
It costs $5 to enter a vote on the day and time participants think the ice sculpture will melt. The person who has the most accurate vote wins $500. The rest of the proceeds go to funding for various projects within the school system.
Although this incident was very disappointing, WASA has remained positive. Higgins commented: “The silver-lining to this unfortunate incident is that it has shed more light onto WASA as an organization and all of the great things that we do for the community.”
For more information, visit the official WASA website.
