Tag: 2023 rubber duckie race

We are overwhelmed by the support our community shows us every year through monetary gifts and volunteering. You may not know this but, for every hour of therapy that a child receives at Schreiber we lose about $74. You see, we are one of the only pediatric therapy centers in Central Pennsylvania that takes Medicaid as a form of payment. We do that so that every child, regardless of their family’s ability to pay, has the opportunity to receive the care and services that they require to live their lives to the fullest.

What you might not know is that Medicaid provides the lowest reimbursement amount of any insurances. With 95% of our kiddos on Medicaid (regardless of their family’s financial status) that means that we run at a deficit of about $2 Million per year that we must make up for with fundraising and grants.

Not only did this year’s event raise a record amount of funds for our center, but we also had over 150 people volunteer their time and talents to help us run the festival. Local companies like Citadel Credit Union, Member’s First Federal Credit Union, Murray Insurance, and Re-Bath of Lancaster had company employees volunteer their time running different games and arts & craft stations throughout the festival. We also had students from Hempfield, Manheim Township, and Warwick School Districts sign up to volunteer with us, as well as many incredible community individuals who helped with set up, tear down, duckie & ticket sales, games, and everything in between. To everyone who volunteered with us at this event we thank you!

Speaking of setting up and tearing down, our vendors deserve a huge thank you too, especially Shumaker PDT who came to our center to pick up all the materials we needed to run this event and not only delivered it to the park for us on Sunday, but also handled set up and tear down of the larger aspects of the event with the help of Utility Vehicles provided by Messick’s. Of course, we can’t forget about Good’s Disposal generously providing the dumpsters for post event clean up and disposal!

We cannot thank the Lancaster County Department of Parks & Recreation and Lancaster Bureaus of Fire & Police enough for donating their time to the 35^th Annual Rubber Duckie Race & Festival. Their presence at the event was instrumental in making sure that the event was safe for everyone!

A special thank you to all our food truck vendors who came out in record numbers to serve our guests some delicious savory and sweet treats! Food truck alley was the talk of the event and the consensus among event goers was that they loved the variety and having so many different options to choose from. When it comes to kids, you know options are always important! Thank you to Au-Sam’s Trolly Stop, Brickers, Cupcakes by Casey, Farm Show Milkshakes, Italian Job Food Truck, Kona Ice, Nacho Depot, On the Grind Coffee, Philadelphia Hoagie Co. On the Roll, Scoops Ice Cream & Grill, Stoney’s Burgers and Fries, and Tri-County Barbecue Catering!

Of course, our sponsors also deserve our thanks and gratitude not only for their monetary donations towards this event but also for helping to get the word out so that more families could come and enjoy the fun and festivities with us! 2023 Ambassador Harper become quite the TV star appearing in a commercial underwritten by presenting sponsor Lancaster Toyota. As a result of our 20 year partnership with Re-Bath of Lancaster Harper was also highlighted on Good Day PA both to promote our event to local families and friends of Schreiber.

We hope that all the Schreiber families and community members who came out to the event had a blast playing games, dancing to music provided by DJ Matt Haines, making arts & crafts, meeting Miss Pennsylvania Miranda Moore, getting their very own balloon animal from The Balunguy, and learning a little more about what we do here at Schreiber. We love meeting new people and telling them all about our mission and our goals, but what we love even more is showing our community just how amazing our Schreiber clients really are. We think that the Duckie Race & Festival is a great way to bring everyone together in a fun way to do just that!

If you stayed for our rubber duckie race this year you already know that the dropping of the duckies was almost rained out, but we decided to brave the weather for our most anticipated moment of the day. We were very lucky that the rain held off as long as it did so that we didn’t have to worry about the water levels in the river risking the safety of our duckie catching volunteers, and that the lightning stayed away.

Walker Sales & Distribution once again provided us with the perfect duck box, and JC Snavely & Sons came in clutch with the crane, so that our 2023 Ambassadors Harper and Katelyn could pull the rope and release the rubber duckies into the Conestoga River from the Strawberry Street bridge to start their race. Our friends over at the Conestoga River Club, Chris Fletcher, and Isaac’s Restaurant were fantastic at catching all the finish line duckies and making sure that any escaped duckies were quickly found and caught.

Overall, we think that this year’s Rubber Duckie Race & Festival was a whirlwind of family fun and excitement with a whole lot of delicious foods thrown in for good measure, and we hope that everyone who came out and participated in the event in any capacity feels the same.

Thank you again to everyone for helping make this year’s event one to remember. If you share any pictures or memories from the event please tag us so that we can enjoy them too. If you would like to share any pictures or memories with us directly please feel free to email our marketing manager, Alexandra Cahill, at acahill@schreiberpediatric.org. We can’t wait to see you all again next year!

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As a nationally recognized pediatric facility, the Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development provides family-centered education and therapy programs for infants, children and adolescents with disabilities, developmental delays, and acquired injuries. Our goal-oriented approach maximizes each child’s ability to function independently within the community.

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