Ray Wieler, President of Children’s Camp International and coordinator for World Harvest for Kids says things are ready for the big harvest set for August 5, near Winkler, Manitoba. The group’s goal is to break the record for the fastest harvest of a quarter section of wheat.
All proceeds from the event will go to help send children in Asia to camp. Their goal is to raise enough money to send 40,000 kids to camp where they can receive a message of hope for their future. Children’s Camps International is an organization dedicated to giving underprivileged children in developing areas of the world an opportunity to attend camp. Based in Winkler, and under the direction of Wieler, a former Winkler Bible Camp director, the organization currently runs children’s camps in India, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Belize. Wieler said they have about 95 combines lined up.
“These are very firm commitments, no matter what,” he said. “I think the combine numbers will be there. I’m still looking for a few more from the Untied States. Once we have a 100 combines lined up, we’ll close it off.” Wieler said with 100 machines coming to harvest 160 acres of winter wheat, it should take about 10 minutes. He’s hoping for no incidents or accidents when running these machines side-by-side. It should be quite a sight with 100 combines on the field at one time, spanning half a mile.”
Beating the previous record of 15 minutes 42 seconds with 64 combines shouldn’t be the challenge, but by how much. The fastest attempt to date came from a group in Westlock, Alberta in 1998. Wieler said the World Harvest for Kids will serve two purposes. “2006 is the Centennial year in Winkler. Putting together an event that had to do with agriculture just made sense; this seemed like a great way to let the world know about Winkler. At the same time, the ‘World Harvest for Kids will benefit children overseas by allowing them to experience a week at camp.”
The schedule of events for August 5 includes an orientation for combine operators at 10:30 am, a luncheon for operators, entertainment from 12:00 to 2:00 pm, official welcome and dignitary acknowledgement at 2 pm, and the Harvest will begin shortly after the welcome.