Helping diabetes through ball

Times Reporter   

 

Two Strathmore teens that were looking to play in a couple ball tournaments this summer eventually decided to create their own, and raise money for the Canadian Diabetes Association in the process.

“We joined a slo-pitch team in the league here in Strathmore. We were kind of looking around for tournaments and there wasn’t really a whole bunch at that time of the year so we thought, instead of spending a bunch of time looking for tournaments, we might as well just make one,” said Jason Hobson, 16. 

“Then I talked to him about it (Shawn Fraser, 16) and he has diabetes so then we thought, we’re not just going to take all this money from people, we might as well donate all of the profits to an organization and we figured diabetes was a good one to start out with.” 

The boys then got to work; they began collecting raffles prizes from family, businesses and different organizations. They got 12 teams registered, and two weeks before the tournament, they were in Hussar working on getting the diamonds ready, which was a little more than they had anticipated. 

It took both of them on mowers about three hours and a half hours just to cut the grass down. The whole thing looked like a grass field inside of a fence, said Hobson, and they transformed it back into a beautiful looking ball field. The night before the tournament, which was held Aug. 15-17, it rained and Fraser’s dad had gone in and pumped out the water from the diamonds.

In the end, the event was more successful than either teen could have anticipated. 

“It was better than we expected probably for the first year, and we would just like to thank everyone who showed up and donated, it’s a real appreciation for that,” said Fraser. 

“It’s amazing actually, I was quite pleased when I got the e-mail saying that you guys had organized the event. It’s always fascinating when you find communities get together and pull of a fundraiser like this, especially someone in high school because it’s not something that most people in high school are thinking about,” said Jason Demers, manager of Mission Funding for Alberta/NWT with the Canadian Diabetes Association.

“To do all the work that you guys did, especially knowing that you guys did the diamonds as well, that’s impressive. Alot of people would have given up… the fact that you guys persevered and raised the money that you did is amazing.

“Without these events we wouldn’t be able to put on the services that we do, because we rely fully on the money that is raised by donors, it’s not coming from government.” 

The boys managed to raise $5,970 for diabetes research and are already making plans for next year’s event, which will possibly be to raise funds for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.