Three groups with diverse interests have come together to support one another and people with disabilities.

The Pacific Forest Rally, the Abilitas Foundation and Miss World Canada partnered over the Oct. 4-5 weekend to raise the profile of their endeavours.

Abilitas is an organization that provides respite places for people with disabilities and their families living in the province.

One of the respite facilities is located near Merritt at the Cold Water Ranch. The ranch is the first barrier-free facility in B.C. where people with disabilities can go to rest, recharge and reconnect with their families, Abilitas representative Bradley Vis told the Herald.

“In British Columbia right now, people with disabilities are having a tough time and many of them live below the poverty line,” Vis said.

The charity was started by John Glazma, president of the Corpus Management Group and owner of the Cold Water Ranch, which he offered as a host site for one of the stages of the rally race that weekend, Vis said.

Miss World Canada is a new official partner of the Abilitas Foundation and was invited to send representatives to the weekend’s race, Vis said.

He said the race was a great opportunity for the partners to come together and spread the word about the Abilitas Foundation.

“Miss World Canada’s helping us do that because they have a large reach in the country and we want to spread the word about what the foundation’s doing and why we’re here,” Vis said.

Yasaman Madanikia, the representative from Miss World Canada who attended the race, told the Herald the organization supports other charities that aim to help people with disabilities such as Variety, so the pageant wanted to have a representative attend the race and show support for Abilitas.

As a special education teacher and residential houseworker, Madanikia said this charity speaks to her personally.

“I work with children with disabilities, [both] mental and physical, so I really understand the difficulties that these children and their families go through. It touches my heart,” Madanikia said.

The Pacific Forest Rally has been operating in Merritt for 11 years and local volunteer Nicki Beverley said last year was its first time partnering with the Abilitas Foundation and Cold Water Ranch.

“We were looking for an area where we could host a new stage road and they approached us and said they had 850 beautiful acres that they’d like us to use,” Beverley said, noting upon researching the foundation she felt it was a wonderful not-for-profit.

She described their partnership as “a natural fit.”

“A not-for-profit helping a not-for-profit,” Beverley said. “We bring the people in to town, we might as well partner together and get them some exposure.”

She said Miss World Canada approached Abilitas, interested in the possibility of the Pacific Forest Rally being able to provide them international public relations given the high profile of the race, which is the focus of a 30-minute episode for TSN broadcasted in 80 countries.

“It seemed a natural fit for them to be able to come on board and again, help raise awareness for Abilitas. In the end, it’s all about bringing money into the charity,” Beverley said.

The Pacific Forest Rally brought in about 600 volunteers and organizers this year and almost $250,000 into Merritt each year.