By Peggy Carroll
Mark Tobler loved to take his daughter, Alexandra, and her friends on treasure hunts. They were the new version of an old-time pastime, played with GPS apps and coordinates posted on the web. It is called geocaching.
Alexandra, better known as “Ally,” said they would find boxes containing a notebook and pen, perhaps some trinkets. They would sign in to show that they had been there and put the book back in the box for others to find.
When Mark died of cancer four years ago, when Ally was only 14, she searched for a concrete way to honor him.
He was a man who took joy in life — a chemical engineer and a part-time farmer who was known for growing pumpkins so large, 400 lbs and more, that it took a team to move them.
“I knew I wanted to do a fund-raiser,” she said. “But I didn’t know what. Then, while our family was brainstorming, I thought about his love for geocaching.”
She believed it would be unique way to raise money and appropriate for the man who loved it. It also would be fun, as it had been for him.
So she modified the game – and with the help of the Morristown High School Key Club, organized an annual fund-raiser she calls “Geo-Caching for Cancer.” Instead of a treasure hunt, it is a scavenger hunt, and it all takes place around the Morristown Green.
Saturday, June 11, 2016, will be the third annual event. So far, Ally says, she has sent some $2,000 to the American Cancer Society, donated in memory of her father.
The hunt begins at 11 a.m. Participants, who pay a minimum of $5 to play, receive coordinates for the stops on the hunt.
Ally also gives them a riddle. Both lead players to their first stop. From there, Key Club members give clues to find the next venue.
Winners receive prizes – and the satisfaction of knowing they are helping a good cause.
Interesting in playing? Register online. Or just turn up at the Green. “We even get people who are passing by, see us and then join,” Ally said.
Ally, now 18, graduates from MHS this month. In the fall heads to the University of Maryland, where she plans to major in journalism. But she anticipates a fourth geocaching event next spring.