Nightmare At Beaver Lake is the Rotary Club of Sammamish’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
All the proceeds from the event that do not directly cover the cost of creating it are put to use to benefit the community — providing scholarships for aspiring students, providing books and equipment for our local schools, sponsoring the SAMMI Awards of Excellence, and even building wells in Ethiopia, to name but a few worthwhile projects.
Every year Rotarians put in hundreds of volunteer hours to set up and operate the impressive theatrical production, and in doing so manifest the great spirit of charity of generosity that is a trademark of Rotary worldwide.
But they cannot do it by themselves, and each year rely on a number of important sponsors.
According to Rotarian Anita Boser, there are many opportunities for local businesses to get on board to help Rotary help the community through the annual Nightmare At Beaver Lake event. As well as being a fun and rewarding thing to do, sponsorship of “Nightmare” also shows the people of Plateau that your business cares about the local community.
“Sometimes the donors give unique things. For example last year Affordable Auto Wrecking brought up some broken vehicles for the walk,” Boser said. “Prime Electric has supplied us with equipment. Without it we wouldn’t be able to run the sets.”
Sponsors can donate to the event in a variety of different ways, with financial support, helpful set items or props, or even by providing specialized services.
Arbor Montessori Schools have supported the event in recent years by supplying a bus to transport patrons from one end of the walk to the other.
“The Rotary club does a great job and it’s a great event. We’re happy to be a part of it,” said Arbor’s Head of Schools Mary O’Brien. “It all goes to a really great cause and I’d encourage more people to get involved.”
Bigger companies also donate services to Nightmare at Beaver Lake. Prime Electric Inc. not only donated electrical supplies but also the manpower to install the equipment.
“We take care of the electrical needs so we have a safe environment,” Group Executive Bob Bracco said.
Bellevue Paint has supplied paint for the sets this year and previous years.
“We wanted to donate to the community,” Manager Autumn Brown said. “This is a fun way to do it.”
Puget Sound Energy has been a sponsor for five years. Jason Van Nort, Local Government and Community Relations Manager, said supporting Nightmare at Beaver Lake was Puget Sound Energy’s way to give back to the community.
“This is an easy decision for us because it’s a well attended event and the Rotary club gives a lot back to the community with the proceeds,” he said.
Van Nort has also volunteered at Nightmare at Beaver Lake.
“My wife and I were both actors one year,” he said. It’s pretty exhausting, you’re out there everyday for a week. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity.”
This year the Sammamish Rotary club is planning to do a few things differently.
“This is the first year we’re looking to have a radio sponsor,” Boser said, outlining the group’s hopes of attracting bigger audiences from outside the Plateau. “We just want it to be more visible on the Eastside.”
They are still looking for more sponsors to help cut costs and provide more items for this years’ event. One type of sponsorship they are still looking for is a food sponsor to provide food for the actors on nights the walk is open.
“It would also be wonderful to have warehouse space,” Boser said. “We reuse materials from sets and props and it would be great to have a place to store them.”
“We have about 10 sponsors a year, 14 last year,” Boser said. “In an ideal world we’d have a couple of dozen.”
Sponsors of the event are acknowledged with signs along the Walk of Doom at the entrance as well being featured on the events website and a variety of other ways depending on the size of the donation.
The Rotary club needs to have all the donations for this year by August.
For more information on the Rotary Club of Sammamish, and how you can make a donation, visit www.sammamishrotary.org
