On May 1st, 2016 a wildfire broke out near the city of Fort McMurray AB. By May 3rd the entire population of 90,000 citizens were being evacuated as much of the community was engulfed in flames. An entire country watched in shock and disbelief as families lost their homes while fleeing their fire-ravaged city.

Immediately, disaster relief efforts were begun. The Canadian Red Cross set up the Alberta Fires Appeal and began accepting donations. Firefighters struggled to save as much of the town as possible, volunteers pitched in to aid displaced families, fundraisers and benefits were quickly organized around the country. Everyone wanted to help.

On Thursday, May 5th magician John Kaplan decided to put the years of experience gained from presenting his Fundraising Magic™ program on behalf of schools and community organizations to the test, and initiated the “Magic for Fort Mac” benefit performance.

Calling upon fellow performers – many of whom, like John, had performed in Fort McMurray numerous time over the years – and enlisting the Massey Theatre in New Westminster BC to host the event, the stage was set for a whirlwind promotional campaign to get the word out and fill the theatre. With a show date of Monday, May 16th, there was exactly one week from the time John “went public” with news of the upcoming event to the curtain going up on the performance.

On Friday, May 13th – four days after launching the event – the theatre reported ticket sales of around 300. Come show day, over 700 people attended the performance, and by all accounts were thoroughly entertained by the stellar stage and close-up magicians that volunteered their time and talent to pull this amazing effort off. In a word, it was a tremendous SUCCESS.

Other than theatre staffing, everything was donated. Presto Print of Richmond provided the posters, flyers and signage. The Tri-Cities Rotaract youth delivered flyers and put up posters in New Westminster all weekend. The Burnaby Now donated a half-page to advertise the event. CKNW radio did a feature interview. The performers gave freely and willingly of their time and talent, a number of businesses contributed items to the silent auction. Several associations helped spread the word. The New Westminster Fire & Rescue Services members collected an additional $1,774 at the event through their "Fill the Boot" campaign. Numerous friends and relatives pitched in to sell tickets, collect silent auction contributions and promote the event.

On Friday, May 27th John Kaplan had the pleasure of handing over the money raised through the "Magic for Fort Mac" benefit concert to Jennifer Wong of the Red Cross. With the matching funds program provided by the Canadian government, this show raised $16,308.04 to help the families that were either displaced from or lost their homes entirely in the Fort McMurray wildfire.