Greater Maple Valley Community Center’s Youth Council extends a warm thank you to each and every participant, volunteer and challenge sponsor who helped make the Maple Valley version of the Amazing Race on May 2 a successful community event. The theme for the event was “Think! Don’t Drink!” This theme was carried out in many of the challenges in which our thirty teams engaged.
The day began with cloudy, rainy weather. One of the first challenges was to build a tower of toilet tissue 16 rolls high in Lake Wilderness Park and carrying it intact back to the Den Youth Center. The next challenge was a mad dash for canned foods for the Maple Valley Food Bank. Thank you to all of the wonderful Maple Valley citizens who generously gave over 220 canned goods!
The sixty participants ranging in age from 12 to … well adults, were brave enough to melt a block of ice with their bare hands (bodies), took a pie in the face in search of the cherry, ate chocolate kisses until they found the one with a caramel center, made fifty baskets with the basket ball, walked a straight line wearing “Drunk Goggles” and much, much more. There were three different geographic venues for the Race which began at 9:30 a.m. and concluded at 6:00 p.m. Needless to say, it was an exhausting day, and yet several people were hoping we would be having another Amazing Race on the next Saturday.
The day ended with a little sunshine and an important message reminding our community that it’s important for Tahoma students to make healthy choices by not engaging in underage drinking; in other words to Think! Don’t Drink! Maple Valley’s Amazing Race was made possible by funding from Maple Valley Communities That Care, which is a coalition of caring youth and adults in the Tahoma School District, working hand in hand to build a safe and supportive community for youth and their families, now and in the future.
Special thanks go to Kristiane Byers, Kimberly Walker, youth staff at the Greater Maple Valley Community Center and to the Maple Valley Youth Council.
The Greater Maple Valley Community Center
