By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
A recent annual fundraising event held in honour of two lost sons has raised more than $13,000 that will go towards youth in Osoyoos.
The annual Coleton Clause Ryker’s Reindeer fundraiser was conceived by Brenda Lee Nelson on the back of two tragedies that struck her family.
Both Nelson and her daughter Chrystie McClurg lost their sons under separate circumstances and have been keeping their precious memories of the boys alive by raising money for those in need.
The original fundraiser – a Christmas aimed event to help families in need – was created in memory of her 12 year old son Coleton Nelson who was killed in a car accident in 2011 while being driven to hockey practice.
And cruel fate struck again, five years to the day of Coleton’s death, the Nelson’s 19 month old grandson Ryker McClurg died due to complications from the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) vaccine.
“Both these boys were so full of love and life. In order to keep their memories alive we decided to start giving back at Christmas,” Nelson said.
Donated items on display for the silent auction.
Living in the Lower Mainland in a big empty house with lots of memories was just too much to bear after losing their son, says Brenda Lee Nelson.
This eventually led to a decision to relocate to Osoyoos in 2021, a place where they had many fond memories of summer vacations with the family for nearly 26 years.
The couple’s fundraising was already well underway, Nelson says she started it up the year after losing Coleton. When she came to Osoyoos it was during the pandemic and she hardly knew anyone here, and the event was put on hold.
“The first year that I was here because I couldn’t do it, I was going stir crazy, and I had to do something,” she says. That was the year that Merritt and Princeton were hit by severe flooding which then gave Nelson a new focus – collecting clothes and other donations to help the displaced residents. Through social media and with the help of the Richter Pass Beach Resort and other volunteers, truckloads of donations were sent off.
For the last nine years (except for 2020) they’ve held a fundraiser in the summer around the boy’s birthdays to raise funds for less fortunate families at Christmas. To date, they’ve raised well over $100,000 and helped more than 100 families in the last nine years.
In her last fundraiser before moving to the Okanagan Nelson said that through their fundraiser they were able to help 26 families with Christmas hampers.
“They didn’t just get a hamper, each family got three months worth of food – each family an entire carload,” she says. “My goal was to help them out for a solid three months, and not just for a week at Christmas time and then they’re back to that stress.
“I wanted them to be able to have a good stress free three months so they could put that money that they both had put towards food, put it towards bills they were behind in or do something.”
“For me, I find it very rewarding and healing,” she says, the pain of losing a child surely a pain that never ceases.
At the height of their fundraising before trading the Lower Mainland for the South Okanagan they were helping 26 families for Christmas. And make no mistake, these were not simply small hampers, they were entire carloads with each of the families receiving three months of food.
“My goal was to help them out for a solid three months, and not just you know, for a week at Christmas time or whatever. I’m not gonna do that – give them a decent Christmas, but then they’re back to that stress a week later.”
And by covering three months of food the families could put that money they saved to pay off bills for instance she says.
She notes the substantial amount of work that goes into providing three month hampers for over two dozen families and says she just can’t do it anymore. She gets help of course but it’s just too big of a task.
“I am now just going to be singling out one family and doing the same thing and then all the rest of the money is going to kids who cannot afford to go into sport,” she says, adding it’s fitting because of Coleton’s love of hockey.
She’s already discussed it with the local elementary school which was very excited about the idea. Nelson and the principal (the Times Chronicle understands former Principal David Foster has moved on) will determine who will receive the assistance.
“I’ve already got a boy who wants to play hockey lined up, and a little girl who wants to dance. I was pretty ecstatic about the boy and the hockey because that was my son, he was obsessed with hockey, so I was happy about that.”
She doesn’t know how many children they will be able to fund as different sports have different costs, hockey being a particularly expensive sport to play which she says will knock $2,000 off the total. And the cost of dance is “ridiculous” she says while a sport like soccer on the other hand is significantly cheaper.
She’s earmarking roughly $1,000 per child and of course, she holds back $1,000 for the next fundraiser so that they have the basic seed money to get it off the ground.
She says it’s important for her to see where the money is going. “All the hard work we put into these fundraisers it’s important to see where the money is going, I want to see where it’s going.”
When asked how they will choose the family to receive the extended Christmas hamper she says, being a small town it’s basically word of mouth and with the assistance of those who are aware of the needs in the community.
The one family that will be supported at Christmas will also come from this pot and of course, she counts on donations at Christmas time to help fulfill that.
“It’s a lot easier to get donations for one as opposed to 26 as I did at the coast, that was a gong show.”
Memorial photo of the two boys – Coleton Nelson (left) and Ryker McClurg (right).
This year was the first year they’ve done the event at their home here in Osoyoos. “I was pleasantly surprised because I was worried as this is the smallest area and the most amount of people coming yet.” She says they were expecting 200 people but ended up with 120, but with $13,000 raised this was the biggest event yet donation-wise.
The “family and friends fundraiser” event, held in early July, saw an entrance charge of $20 that gave attendees a drink and hot dog or hamburger along with donated food on the buffet table.
Games are organized which have entry fees and there is a silent auction with support from local businesses and a core group of friends that come up from the lower mainland with various items as well. And there is also live entertainment.
She acknowledges it was a challenge when they first started organizing it after coming to Osoyoos because they didn’t know anybody but she quickly overcame that hurdle. “I’m not shy as you can tell,” she laughs.
Currently, the event focuses solely on Osoyoos as that’s where all the donations are from. She says it’s important to make sure the money raised in the community goes to helping families in the community.
“It’s only fair to put the money back into where the money came from.”
She adds that she would be more than happy to include Oliver, but that’s only if she can raise donations from Oliver.
