Lori Werling, City of Sidney: “I’m not taking a picture with that snake.”

At last week’s Choice One’s Sidney Charity Cup, brave adventurers gathered to conquer the jungle of competition—all for a great cause. Yet one “fearless” explorer, the City of Sidney’s Lori Werling (pictured, left), was ready for an emergency exit when she encountered several deadly (okay, rubber) snakes during the event.

Lori, a self-proclaimed ophidiophobe (fancy for “nope, nope, nope”), almost abandoned the temple ruins rather than pose with a slithery impostor. But despite the risk of such a perilous encounter, a whole jungle’s worth of you showed up to support the Miami Valley Down Syndrome Association and Ronald McDonald House Charities. Because of your generosity, the event raised $6,990 for the two causes, and we couldn’t be more grateful!

The night saw a fierce competition that exposed the most accurate snake tossers (not at Lori) to be the Village of Russia (Mark Shappie, Alex Seger, and Choice One’s Kyle Siegrist and Derek Luersman), who claimed the competition’s top prize. Congrats to our victorious explorers, and thanks to everyone who braved the wild to support MVDSA and RMHC! Finally, special thanks to Lori, who, despite her fears, turned a potentially slithery situation into a moment of courage and camaraderie, making our jungle adventure even more memorable.