Saturday night at the Don Ross Centre, a fundraiser was held for the next Wounded Warriors Weekend that is held annually.
Wounded Warriors Weekend brings veterans from around the world together for a chance to be shown support directly from the citizens they protect as well as be provided resources for attendees suffering from PTSD.
Attending Saturday’s event was one of these individuals helped by Wounded Weekend Warriors, Joe Rustenburg, who received a service dog, Vixen, through the organization. Joined onstage by both Vixen and his wife Melanie, Rustenburg told the crowd "[Vixen] made it easier for me to live, which took some of the weight off my wife, so she could get on with her life."
Mrs. Rustenburg then shared her gratitude for WWW and added that when Vixen came into their lives she breathed a sigh of relief.
"I used to take care of him [her husband] 100 per cent of the time," she said, adding that Vixen had become a companion for her husband.
The comedian who performed for the event, Bobby Henline, knows firsthand that when a soldier returns home, his battles are not yet over. Henline, an American currently living in Texas, served four tours of duty in Iraq, with his last ending three weeks after deployment when the Humvee he was travelling in with four others hit an IED. Henline was the sole survivor of the explosion and it left him in a coma for two weeks.
He was burned over 30 per cent of his body and his left arm was amputated, but he didn't lose his sense of humour.
Now a touring comedian and motivational speaker, Henline doesn't shy away from his experience and instead asks the audience to laugh along with him — after taking the mic he dead-panned to the crowd "I am a burn survivor." Then, after pausing for applause, "thank you, I've been extinguished for years."
Wrapping up the entertainment for the evening was a performance by Canadian country singer George Canyon, who is an advocate of the Canadian Military.
