TISDALE, NIPAWIN — It’s a happy ending to a story that began with the theft of a boat motor, thanks to the Tisdale Fire Department.
The Wounded Warriors Weekend, an organization that helps military personnel and others deal with post-traumatic stress disorder by putting together an annual retreat, was raffling a 14-foot Lund boat. The boat was being stored on Gordon Joyes’ property in Codette when somebody stole the 9.9 horsepower Mercury outboard motor.
“It was actually bolted on, so they had to unbolt it and everything else,” Joyes said.
The Wounded Warriors managed to recoup most of their losses from insurance, but had to pay a $1,000 deductible.
Meanwhile, the Tisdale Fire Department had found out the motor was stolen, so with money that was raised by the fire department through fundraisers like bartending at events, the firefighters decided to help out.
“We saw on Facebook the motor had been stolen and we thought: how could we give back to the community that has given to us,” said Adam Lewis, a firefighter with the Tisdale department.
So the member of the fire department had a meeting about helping out the Wounded Warriors.
“We discussed it and we unanimously decided that this is what we wanted to donate our money to,” Lewis said.
It was Lewis who contacted the Wounded Warriors about the $1,000 donation.
“It was a big surprise,” said Verda Hoppe, another member of the Wounded Warriors Weekend. “I was the one that got the phone call from one of the firemen and it was a huge surprise, being that it was from Tisdale for one thing. It was quite unexpected but really a great gesture on their part.”
Joyes said he was smiling from ear-to-ear and jumped six feet when he found out about the donation.
“It was quite exciting, actually, that somebody out of the blue would just do that for us.”
The money did come with a catch.
“We gave them a condition that we wanted them to come to Tisdale and bring the boat so we could help them sell some tickets for the raffle on this boat and motor,” Lewis said.
Hoppe said that was no problem.
The Wounded Warriors will be at the Beeland Co-op C-Store July 28, starting at 10 a.m. There will be a bouncy castle and a fire truck there as the Wounded Warriors sell tickets to raffle the boat.
The Wounded Warriors Weekend will be held in Slave Lake, Alta. this year. Next year it will be held in Newfoundland before returning to Nipawin in 2020.
