Rockin4Tabitha 6 a HUGE success!  $50,000 raised in one night!

Rockin4Tabitha 6 was held at the Lonestar Bar and Grill (Ottawa) on Thursday, September 22^nd, 2011. Our musical-themed fund-raiser has now been held at this same location for five of our six years. It is a great Ottawa music venue, and some of our regulars are now showing up in cowboy boots and having fun Texas Style!

This year, local blues/rock station DAWG FM came on board as our media sponsor, providing us with a very well produced 30 second commercial that they ran for close to a month. Special thanks to Dylan Black of DAWG for his help in making this happen.

Bobby's Blues Band (the first blues afficionado to send Bob an email with the 'solution' to this reference will win a 2012 Rockin4Tabitha build t-shirt) Texas Flood opened the night with a Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute set, performing such SRV classics as ‘Cold Shot’, ‘The Sky is Cryin'’, ‘Look at Little Sister’, plus some lesser known but great tunes by Bob's favourite blues guitar slinger.   Two ZZ Top classics were covered with help from Rod McLeod, who played some wicked slide and fattened up the sound with his Les Paul.

In a surprise 'special guest' spot, Bob was joined by keyboardist Andrew Muir, and The Tonettes, a six member gospel group. Bob's request for crossed fingers and good wishes before starting Mark Cohn's ‘Walking In Memphis’ must have paid off, because that piano-driven, gospel-backed song was one of the night's highlights. If anyone would like to see some of the musical evidence, check out our YouTube station (http://www.youtube.com/rockin4tabitha).

Texas Flood bass player and singer Brad Campbell and fellow members of the classic rock band Chameleon performed two sets of classic rock and roll that had our crowd up and dancing the night away.

This year, we held a silent auction with items donated by  Dave Bristow, a Canadian long distance driving competitor (custom built driver), Lush Handmade Cosmetics (Lush Legends Gift Box), Bob MacDonald of RBC (2 Ottawa Senators Tickets), Metro Music (Godin detour electric guitar), Team Royal Lepage (two Avril Lavigne concert box seats, and two Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert box seats), K2J Fitness (running course gift certificate and two technical running shirts), and Compact Music (Big Box O' Vinyl)

Thank you to everyone who provided these great items for auction. We raised $695 to add to our evening’s total.

Last year Bob was surprised by Max Keeping's presentation of a United Way “Community Builder Award”. Those who know Bob well could see that once he figured out what was going on, he was looking for a good place to hide. This year's surprise caught Bob equally unaware. Tony Sottile, CEO of Ottawa-based Modern Niagara Group, asked Bob for a couple of minutes of his time, asking for a bit more information about the Tabitha Foundation’s programs. Tony then handed Bob a cheque, saying he would like to support our work. Bob's eyes were not up to the task of seeing the $$$, said “thanks a lot, how much is it for?” (to be able to write the tax deductible receipt, of course) Tony replied; '$11,000'.....Bob's response of 'Holy Crap, are you serious'?? (Those who know Bob well also know that he is not 'politically correct') was immediately followed by more appropriate thanks.

Rockin4Tabitha would like to welcome our newest corporate partner Modern Niagara Group to the team!

Returning corporate sponsor Lush Handmade Cosmetics has already committed$25,000 to the 2012 build in Kong Kong province, and will once again sponsor several employees through a North America-wide employee contest to join the build team. Karen Wolverton and her daughter Chloe will be joining us for the second time.

It is truly heart-warming to be associated with two corporations who give back, donating hard-earned revenue to help us build more houses, put in more wells, and maybe even enable us to tackle a portion of a 'bricks and mortar' school this year.

Projections, including fundraising by our hardy build team members, Lush Handmade Cosmetics, Modern Niagara Group, and the $4500 we raised through the door and silent auction items, will take us OVER FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($50,000) this year!  A new record!

Wendy Cunning,  co-founder of R4T was heard to say; "Just think, in 2006 we raised seven thousand dollars and built four houses with seven builders. We have grown every year, but this is just amazing!"

We couldn't do it without you

Thanks
The R4T Team

Rockin4Tabitha has a YouTube station - check us out here!!!  www.youtube.com/rockin4tabitha  Videos of songs by Bob Carver and the Tonettes and Texas Flood all new!

Dawg FM 101.9 promotional sound bite for Rockin4Tabitha 6 hits the air!! 

Listen to it HERE!!

Rockin4Tabitha welcomes Dawg FM 101.9 as a corporate sponsor! (July 25th, 2011)

Listen to Dawg FM 101.9 starting in late August for information on this year's Rockin4Tabitha concert, to be held Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 at the Lonestar Bar and Grill (St. Laurent, Ottawa)

Rockin4Tabitha founder, Bob Carver, honored at the annual United Way "Community Builder" awards ceremony at Ottawa City Hall (March 22nd, 2011)

In a ceremony at City Hall, Bob was honored to be called up with other Ottawa Community Builder award winners to be recognized by Mayor Jim Watson.  Bob's name in permanently inscribed on a plaque on the Wall of Inspiration at City Hall for all to see.  Congrats Bob, we're proud of you!!

 

Plaque of 2010 Community Builder award winners, March 22nd, 2011

---

Rockin4Tabitha House Build 2011 a huge success!!

The 2011 Rockin4Tabitha house build team has completed its 5th build in Pursat, Cambodia.  25 houses, housing 99 people, were built in 2 days - a record!!

2010-2011 Team Members:  Karen Wolverton, Chloe Wolverton, Allan Ashton, Luanne Doner, Peter Finnegan, Tash Kalbfleish, Nicole Flaxman, Teresa Flaxman, Rosie Schinners, Carrie Harambasic, Marc Laflamme, Anitra Moscow, Dan Spence, Colin Eades, Paula Piilonen, Bob Carver and Wendy Cunning.

Breaking News!  R4T Receives Lush Charity Pot Funding!

Rockin4Tabitha would like to thank Lush for providing $10,000 from the Charity Pot program to support the 2011 house building efforts!  In addition, Lush will be partnering with the R4T by sending 5 employees to Cambodia for the build itself.

A huge thank you goes out to Lush and we look forward to meeting our new team mates!

The R4T team now consists of 16 members and will build a record 25 houses in January/February 2011 in Pursat province, Cambodia.

Click HERE to download the press release.

Rockin4Tabitha 2010 a huge success!!

Thank you to everyone who came out to Rockin4Tabitha 5!  It was a fantastic evening filled with great music and friends, all in support of the 2011 R4T house building team.  With your support, we are very close to our goal of building 25 houses in Pursat in February 2011. 

A special congrats goes out to Bob Carver, who was surprised by Ottawa's own Max Keeping with a prestigious United Way "Community Builder" award for his dedication and committment to house building in Cambodia.  Congrats Bob!!

Bob Carver and Max Keeping

 Our Goal:  25 houses in 2011 (Pursat, Cambodia)

Help make our 5th anniversary the best Rockin4Tabitha yet!

2010 Rockin4Tabitha Build Team

(February 2010, Koh Kong Province, Cambodia)

Left to Right:  Prinz Pinakatt, Lori Meyer, Erin Crerar, Cam Toews, Paula Piilonen, Lory Ashton, Elena Pinakatt, Wendy Cunning, Derek Boyd, Allan Ashton, Bob Carver.

Thanks to our partners and the build team, R4T 2010 was able to build 16 houses and put in 24 wells!!