A Vernon women’s hockey team has pulled together for one of their own.
The Vernon Vixens recently sold out a private show featuring Andrew Allen with all funds raised supporting a teammate going through a financial crisis.
In just a little over three weeks, a group of Vixens was able to organize the Meier Family Fundraiser. Allen, who is a friend of the Meier’s, offered to fly to Vernon and donate an evening performance. He rounded up Olivia Penalva, Tim Osborne, Matt Pord and Ryan Bangma to donate their performances as well. That got the plans rolling, and from there, the Vixen’ were able to tap into the enormous generosity in Vernon.
“It was amazing to see how many people stepped up to help,” said Christine Bosworth, one of the organizers, of everything from food and beverages to auction items and even helping plowing the road up to Turtle Mountain Winery where the event took place. “Donations from the community started coming out of the woodwork.”
Vixen Cheryl Meier, and her husband Nathan, ended up in financial distress after purchasing a home which turned out to be overrun with moold.
In order to live and raise their young family in a healthy environment they are forced to spend more time and money than they ever imagined to repair the home,
“They have run out of options and are facing serious financial crisis,” said Bosworth.
Cheryl and Nate have been part of the Vernon Vixen hockey family for almost 10 years, after the couple moved to Vernon from Smithers as a young, newly married couple.
“Fresh out of high school, these two moved here to make a life for themselves. They are kind, generous, fun-loving and hard-working people who now have two young children Lexa (age eight) and Link (age five).”
To top it off, their son Link has serious allergies which he’s been hospitalized for, and he has to be regularly monitored throughout the day to ensure he doesn’t have a life-threatening reaction to one of the many dozens of substances that trigger his immune system.
“This young family was already facing tremendous stress due to their son’s health, but they were faced with even more stress and worry once they found out about the amount of mould in this house that is a health concern for all of them, but certainly for their son,” said Bosworth. “The Vernon Vixens hockey team wanted to come together to help out their teammate.”
They did just that by pulling off the fundraiser, which 150 people turned out for and countless others supported.
“This is a tremendously generous young couple who have spent their time in Vernon helping out their friends and community in any way they can — we heard over and over from those who attended the many different ways that Cheryl and Nathan have stepped outside of their own lives to lend a helping hand. It’s just who they are. Now, it’s their time to get some help from their friends and family.”
If you’d like to contribute toward helping the Meier family, contact Christine Bosworth at cbosworth@shaw.ca