MORRISBURG – What started as a group of friends wanting to do something fun for New Year’s Eve, ended up being something so much bigger than that – especially for one young Morrisburg family.
“We were just looking for something to do for New Year’s Eve,” said Derrick Casselman, one of the event organizers, told The Leader.
“As we got talking about it more, we started to talk about doing something for charity. We knew what was going on with Jessie (Elliott). One of our friends is in need, so we decided to help her and her family.”
Jessie was recently diagnosed with breast cancer at 32 years of age. She is married to Justin Elliott and the couple have three young children ranging in age from 4-10 (pictured right).
Recognizing the expense of having young children, and of needing to make numerous hospital visits, the community came together, in force, at the Morrisburg Legion to help provide some financial support to the family.
“We thought it would be great if we could maybe raise $10,000 to help them,” said Casselman. “We far exceeded that.”
Over 200 people attended the fundraiser which included an extremely successful silent and live auction. “We raised about $18,500, including $1,300 for hockey registration for the kids for next year,” said Caselman. About $10,000 of the funds were raised through the live auction, silent auction and donations at the event. A special dinner donated to the cause by Sam Laurin, Rosemary Laurin, Ron Currie and Michael Burton was the most sought after item at the live auction selling for an amazing $1,600.
“We certainly live in an amazing community. Thank you to everyone who opened their hearts and their wallets,” said Casselman.
“What an amazing town we live in,” wrote Jessie in a Facebook post. “I’m so proud to be a member of this community and so blessed to have so many incredible people around us.”
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