Skate4Smiles in Memory of Dawson Ellert

 

Well, we did "do again". . .

When we started back in 2011, our goals were very modest - we didn't know how much we could make but just wanted to do something, anything to keep our little boy's memory alive and to help other families in the future by supporting the new Children's Hospital.

Skate4Smiles 2014 was a bigger success than we ever dared hope for.  Going in, with the help of our business sponsors and personal donations, we knew we were already going to have a good day but the true success of the event always comes down to the kids and their pledge forms.  It's the part we like best - the hard work and dedication of the kids out gathering pledges, helping to make a new hospital for other sick kids and their families.  We love it when they play, when they skate and have fun and when they smile and laugh, and we love it when people talk about Dawson and tell old stories and tell us that he was always smiling, always polite, always kind.

The pledges this year were almost $39,0000.  It's hard to even imagine that's possible but you kids keep doing it.

There were more skaters, more volunteers, more prizes, more activities . . .

And smiles - they were everywhere.

In total, Skate4Smiles 2014 raised over $92,000 for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan in Dawson's memory.  Through Skate4Smiles and all of the other amazing events that have taken place over the last four years, there is now $350,000 raised for the new hospital.  Simply unbelievable...

For us, it's nearly impossible to tell you how we feel.  We wake every morning to find our hearts are still broken, and realize they will never fully mend.  But we find comfort in the support we receive from our families, from our friends, from our many volunteers, from our sponsors, from those that donate personally, and from the children.  We miss Dawson more than we can tell you but we are also sure how happy he is knowing that all these people, many he never had the good fortune to meet, help to make the future better for others.

It is truly a humbling experience and something we are proud to be a part of . . .

Thank you

This year's prize winners:

Highest total pledges:  Mack Klyne
Most number of pledges:  Jacob Leader
Team Prize for highest Pledge Total:  PS Atom Tier 1 Lightning

Annnnnnnnnnddddddddd now the admission of fault!!!!!  In all the "busyness" of the presentations, we forgot to record who won what in the door prize draws.

But we'll get it figured out and update later!

We also handed out 9 additional pledge earner prizes and let the winner's choose from the nine prizes:  Two Trek bicycles, a Grey Cup football signed by Durant and Dressler, a Lego Technic set, a signed Ben Heenan jersey, a signed Jordan Eberle jersey, a Carey Price Olympic jersey and the mystery box (which contained an iPod).

The next top 9 pledge earners in order were:
Kuffner family
Schoenroth family
Kolton and Avery Spenst
Jordan and Sam Engstrom
Logan Tonge
Nolan Johnson
Vollman family
Ethan Carnahan
Vennard family

And ya, you guessed it - we forgot to record who picked what!  But we'll get it sorted out.

Once again, on behalf of Dawson, thank you - to all of you who make this possible.

Let's do again . . .