LANIGAN — It wasn’t hard for the Lanigan ladies’ hockey team to decide what to devote their charity tournament to: raising money for breast cancer research.
“We have a few ladies on our team that have been personally affected by breast cancer or family members that have been, so we figured that it was a good way to raise money and have some teams come out, play some hockey and have fun,” said Katelynn Prokop, one of the organizers.
The Feb. 2 tournament, which raised slightly more than $2,000, saw five teams from Lanigan, Humboldt, Colonsay and Wynyard compete. This is the first time the charity event was held but Prokop said she hopes it becomes an annual event.
Velda Daelick, a breast cancer survivor, was at the event. She wasn’t involved in organizing this event but has organized some other fundraisers for breast cancer in Lanigan.
“I just totally support them for having the energy to do this. Everybody’s busy nowadays, their families are busy and and it takes a special person to care about it, want to pass on their knowledge and their time to do it,” she said. “It’s great.”
Daelick said events such as these are important to promote awareness of the disease.
“Some people think that it’s just an older woman thing in their 50s and it’s not. It really makes other young ladies aware of that and that’s a good thing.”
The survivor said it’s important that people keep track of changes in their body.
“It’s very important to give yourself breast examinations – men and women.”
Prokop said around 90 people attended the event, held on the day of a snowstorm.
“I’m just really happy that we had such a good turnout and everyone is having fun,” she said. “We’ve got kids out and older people in our community and younger people, and it just seems like everyone’s together, having a lot of fun.”
