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Wounded Warriors looking at different events

Wounded Warriors Weekend won’t be back in Nipawin this year, but organizer Blake Emmons hopes to bring a new type of event to town. Emmons and Verda Hoppe , the president of the Nipawin Legion, spoke to Nipawin Council Jan.
Nipawin Council

Wounded Warriors Weekend won’t be back in Nipawin this year, but organizer Blake Emmons hopes to bring a new type of event to town.

Emmons and Verda Hoppe, the president of the Nipawin Legion, spoke to Nipawin Council Jan. 10 to ask if a curling bonspiel could be held at the Evergreen Centre in July.

“In the middle of the summer, you bring a whole bunch of young kids to Nipawin to learn curling,” said Emmons. “If they’ve got the ice in, why don’t we have a bonspiel for wounded warriors, all encompassing – firefighters, policemen, RCMP, military? Part of the deal being one person on that team has to be a wounded warrior of some identification.”

Emmons noted that the timing would work well, as July is post-traumatic stress awareness month.

Rennie Harper, Nipawin’s mayor, thanked them for their work, and since passed on their request to the appropriate persons.

Emmons said the main event this year will be held in Lloydminster.

“Our whole idea being this: smaller events every other year in smaller towns that have never met our Wounded Warriors. So we’re going to have 40 at Lloydminster, probably 40 or so near Kingston, Ont., and maybe another 20 or 30 in Nova Scotia,” he said.

Hoppe told council that the last Wounded Warriors Weekend, held in Nipawin in 2016, was a financial success.

“Financially, it was a great success for us this time, primarily because of the support of the little people,” she said. “We really didn’t get huge amounts from corporate donations, but we were very successful again with our Legions across the province fundraising.”

Hoppe said the bulk of the foundation’s expenses went towards flights and accommodations, at a cost of $80,000. Another $3,500 was spent on travel by board members, including travel during the Run to Remember. Insurance for the weekend event was $3,000, the cost of which was included in administration expenses, which added up to just over $4,000.

“You can see with the amount of people we bring in, which was 200 plus this year including about 52 children, that we feel [this] is more than reasonable to have for administration expenses,” said Hoppe.

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