Blog
Introducing Kierra And Katrina McIvor As The Champions For This Year's Slo-Pitch Tournament
Ashleigh Gulkiewich is a Philanthropy officer at BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and event coordinator for Slo-Pitch for BC Children.
It’s crisp outside, but February is well on its which means spring is just around the corner and with the promise of spring comes the desire to take advantage of fun outdoor sports - even if you are just cheering on the team from the sidelines, like I do.
One of my favourite community sports is softball. Perhaps I’m a bit biased, being the coordinator for the annual Slo-Pitch for BC Children’s Hospital tournament, but I know i’m not alone in the love of this sport. We can see it from the support we receive every year for Slo-Pitch
Entering our 22nd year with this event over 70 corporate teams – that’s about 1000 participants - grab their gear and head out to Softball City to enjoy recreational softball games for one day during the May 25th weekend in support of BC’s kids.
Yes, it’s a great family event and corporate team building event, so it’s easy for companies to dedicate the time to come to the event, but I also acknowledge that it takes a lot of dedication from our participants who commit to raising a minimum $3,000 per team, and collectively raised over $400,000 last year alone.
A driving factor for this success is helping out kids like this year’s patient champions Kiarra and Katrina McIvor.
Six years ago, Kent and Kelly McIvor received the unexpected diagnosis that first, their two-week-old daughter, Kiarra had cystic fibrosis (CF), and then that her older sister, Katrina, also had this genetic disease.
CF is the most common of all genetic diseases and affects about 3,800 people in Canada. It attacks the entire body, but mostly causes chronic lung and intestine inflammation – which means Kiarra is unable to absorb nutrients and is susceptible to bacterial infections.
The McIvor family view BC Children’s Hospital as their home away from home with their frequent visits to a variety of specialists such as dieticians and CF doctors. Kiarra and Katrina both take an active role in their daily treatment and manage their CF through a daily regimen of medication and physical therapy and for the most part the girls, now nine and six, stay healthy and as active as any kid their ages.
We are happy to have Kiarra and Katrina act as the 2012 Slo-Pitch patient champions in recognition of their commitment to staying active and not letting their desease prevent them from taking part in sports – like softball – that they love so much.
Help honour Kiarra and Katrina by putting together a corporate or community recreational softball team and going to bat for BC’s kids May 25, 26 & 27 at Softball City. If you share their story with your supporters, your team will have no problems raising the $3000 entrance commitment. Join today at www.bcchf.ca/slopitch or email be at slopitch@bcchf.ca. Let’s play ball for BC’s kids!
Post your comment
Comments
-
In many kinds of sports, I like football, dream, want to have a own football clothes and shoes.
Posted by football shirts, 05/05/2012 12:59am (12 days ago)
RSS feed for comments on this page | RSS feed for all comments
