— 42 merchants donate silent auction items —
(OSOYOOS TIMES — Oct. 18, 2006) —
The selfless spirit and generosity of Osoyoos people was on display again as dozens responded on short notice to a call to help the family of a little Oliver girl recently diagnosed with leukemia.
Forty-eight bowlers, along with more than 40 area businesses and many other people, raised just over $4,200 Saturday evening for the family of four-year-old Autumn Rehbein, who is currently receiving treatment at B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver.
The money will go to help the family “ including Autumn's dad Mike, mom Chellae, and seven-year-old sister Maddison “ as they stay in the Lower Mainland during the young girl's months of treatment.
Autumn's ordeal began September 12 when she woke up with a high fever. After a check-up at Penticton Hospital, she was airlifted to the Children's Hospital that night. There has been an outpouring of help from people and businesses in Oliver and area for Autumn and the family.
Autumn's grandmother, Chris Rehbein, was on-hand Saturday evening at Kobau Lanes bowling alley in Osoyoos to see the help from Osoyoos people firsthand.
The evening and all the arrangements that went into it were organized by Lee Chic, a retired school principal “ and a Friday league bowler at Kobau Lanes “ who says she was so moved by Autumn's story that she felt she had to do something to help.
Kobau Lanes owner Dan Tarasewich and staff kindly donated use of the facility's eight lanes.
Chic says support for the bowling benefit among local people and merchants grew like wildfire. I had a poster all designed to publicize this, but I never needed to print it, she says.
She quickly had more than the 48 bowlers needed, at $20 per bowler “ and Osoyoos and Oliver stores donated a multitude of prizes for a silent auction held at the bowling alley during the event.
There were tea sets, dinner gift certificates, drug store gift baskets, a DVD and videotape player, jewellery, theatre tickets, picture frames, photo albums, T-shirts, arranged flowers, supermarket gift certificates, plants, a wine kit, a comforter, and gift certificates from many stores and restaurants.
Eight large pizzas were donated by Mami's Pizza, the Diamond Steak & Seafood House, and Cara's Pizzeria for the bowlers and others attending the event.
Chic acted as host during the fun evening, organizing people into eight teams of six bowlers, for three non-competitive, 'fun' games each. One game included bowling backwards, another had all the players bowling with their wrong hand, and the final game was 'bingo' bowling.
On top of that, the Kobau Lanes staff ran special 'Blowout' mini-games during breaks in the main action Saturday evening, to raise an additional $175, and sold 50/50 tickets to raise another $91 for the cause.
Chic reports that the total raised Saturday was $4,207.75 “ consisting of nearly $3,000 from the bowling event (including blowouts, 50/50 and silent auction), $1,000 in matching money from the Oliver Kiwanis Club, and $216 donated by General Coach employees.
Chic was 'bowled over' by the spirit of all the people who came out and contributed to the event's success.
People are so generous; they are so good. She is drafting a letter providing information about the results of the event, and a big 'thank you', and will send it to all the merchants who donated to the evening.
Those merchants include: Dairy Queen, Osoyoos and Oliver Home Hardwares, Smitty's, Husky, Crucetti's, Osoyoos Pharmasave, Shoppers Drug Mart, Osoyoos and Oliver Sears, All Around Outfitters, Periwinkles, Pik-a-Flik, Oliver Theatre, Oliver Garden Restaurant, Osoyoos Super Valu, Osoyoos Dollar Store, Osoyoos Fields, Osoyoos A&W, Alley Cat, Luna del Sol Hair Salon, Polka Dot Door, Vine Valley Grill & Lounge, Unity Clothing, Boutique de Sonia, Osoyoos Buy-Low, Osoyoos Gelato, Boomers Market, Flowers on Main, ABC Restaurant, OK Tire & Auto Service, Curves Osoyoos, Parties & Pies, the Westridge, Sonora Spa, Imperial Office Pro, Logo Stitch/Osoyoos Signs, Stedman's, Tim Hortons, and Ambrosia.
