Team Ta Ta’s is making a comeback to Cochrane with a mission to help end breast cancer with their TaTaPalooza 2024 Steak and Lobster Bash on June 1.
The event will take place at the Cochrane Lions Event Centre, with doors opening at 5 p.m. For $80 guests can partake in the largest steak and lobster night west of The Maritimes. All proceeds raised from the event will be dedicated to the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
Tickets are available online by searching Team Ta Ta’s on www.eventbrite.ca.
Team Ta Ta’s founding member and leader, Kathie Geleta, said her journey first started after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. After winning her battle, she started Team Ta Ta’s in 2007 and participated in six annual Weekend to End Breast Cancer 60 KM walks.
After the Alberta Cancer Foundation ended the walks, Geleta's team was approached to directly partner with them for fundraisers. After spending 20 years of fundraising, Geleta said she knows that every dime she raised is dedicated for a good cause.
“There’s administrative costs and salaries that need to be paid, and because we’re doing it and we’re the boots on the ground, I said: 'You’re not taking anything off the top from the money that we raise,'” Geleta recalled. “So that’s how it started, they gave us a website in 2007, and we’ve raised excess of $850,000 now.
“This will be our 40th event, and we’re hoping to get over that million-dollar mark,” she added.
For the event, guests dine on steak alongside lobster that will be flown in from Newfoundland on the same day. In addition, it will feature live music by Atlantic Storm, and a silent auction with various items that have been donated by local businesses.
“It should be really yummy, and we’re hoping for around 400 people,” Geleta said. “It’s going to be a little bigger than our last event.”
Funds for this year’s event will be earmarked for the Patient Financial Assistance Program.
“Life is tough out there right now financially, and going through treatment is not cheap,” Geleta said. “You think Alberta Health Care will pay for everything-- well they don’t. There’s over-the-counter medications, and if you’re a single mother, […] she needs to have transportation, sometimes a hotel room, babysitters, and it gets costly.”
Geleta’s daughter and member of Team Ta Ta’s, Kaitlyn Law, said the way they’ve always operated the same way since the beginning, and always give back all the raised funds.
“None of us take a cut, and we all do this on our own time,” Law said. “We have no budget [or] no bank account for Team Ta Ta’s, so everything is always donated, and everything we end up raising goes directly to the Alberta Cancer Foundation, no overhead costs are taken.”
Their last event in 2022 raised around $19,000. For this year’s event they say the sky is the limit, but note that Cochrane’s generosity is something that cannot be found anywhere else.
“Cochrane is an amazing community,” Geleta said. “Everywhere we’ve gone, there really hasn’t been anybody that’s said no. We went to a few places in Calgary and [Kaitlyn] just got flat out nos.”
Law added to Geleta’s thoughts outlining that local businesses in town have demonstrated their support for their endeavours.
“Honest to God, the local businesses have been amazing,” Law said. “Every single place that we’ve walked into said they would put something together.”
Both Geleta and Law are excited for the event, and outline that that will be working hard to ensure the event is a success.
“We’re just really excited to bring the community together,” Law said. “This is the town that I grew up in, and it’s grown a lot since I moved away, but it’s really neat to be back in the community and see how much more the town has grown.”
Geleta and Law said they would like to give a special thank you to the Cochrane Lions for their donation to cover the venue, Atlantic Storm, and various businesses in the community for their generosity.
They also like to give a shout to the additional members of Team Ta Ta’s including Richard Geleta, Taylor Law, Nichole Geleta-Weal, and Nick Weal.
