Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company
Local News : Monday, August 14, 2000
Teams have fun, charity the winner in 'The Game'
by Frank
Vinluan
Seattle Times staff reporter
Ten teams, 24 hours and, in the end, more than $200,000 donated for
at-risk children.
That was the culmination yesterday of "The Game," a high-tech
scavenger hunt around the Seattle area that for the first time in its
15-year history raised money for charity. Vision Youth, a program that
provides mentors and tutoring to children in Seattle and Tacoma, benefited
from the $25,000 each team paid to participate in the event.
Although several teams jockeyed for the lead in the hunt, a team of
Microsoft employees won The Game, edging out the closest
competitors by 15 seconds.
"We just raised $250,000 for them. You gotta love it," said Vision
Youth Development Director Kim Ambrose.
Tasks required of the hunt included visiting an inmate at the Kent
Regional Justice Center, navigating an Alaska Airlines flight simulator
and constructing a sculpture from rebar in the University District.
For the sculpture, teams were required to place the rebar into the
ground in a specific configuration. Once completed, the metal spelled out
K-U-O-W. It was at the U District public radio station that the teams then
found the final clue directing them to the finish line at Pier 48.
The victors won only bragging rights, but it was the charitable aspect
of this year's competition that improved The Game this year,
Ambrose said. Businesses and venues were more willing to allow their sites
to be used for scavenger-hunt clues because the proceeds went to charity.
Vision Youth is administered by Federal Way-based World Vision, a
relief and development agency. About 2,500 children in Seattle and Tacoma
benefit from mentoring and tutoring provided by the program, now in its
second year. Proceeds from The Game will be used to train the 35
mentors in the program. Vision Youth also plans to expand the program,
with a target of 10,000 children served in eight years.
"It's not just running around and having fun," Ambrose said of the hunt
at the finish line, pausing for a moment. "But they did run around and
have fun."
Frank Vinluan's phone message number is 206-464-2291.
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