The Andrea Vavrek Bonspiel 4 Hope runs this weekend at the Sexsmith Curling Centre to raise funds for organ donation awareness. Vavrek passed away at the age of 25 in January 2007, and her father Larry Vavrek says the event simply continues a cause she was passionate about.
“My daughter was killed in a car accident and she was a firm believer in organ donation. We don’t know where she got the idea from; whether it was a TV show, a book, we don’t know, but it was about grade 7 and she just bugged everybody about signing their donor cards ever since then.”
Because of Andrea and the annual bonspiel, Larry says the Sexsmith and Grande Prairie area is gaining national attention for the awareness it raises about organ donation.
“The National Film Board of Canada is actually coming down to film a segment on our bonspiel. They’re doing a documentary on organ donation and they’re doing a segment on us to show that as a city, a town, we’re a hot spot in Alberta for knowledge about organ donation.”
They’ll be here this weekend filming a segment for David Suzuki’s The Nature of Things. There are still a couple of spots open, as well as tickets available for the banquet Saturday night at the Civic Centre.
Larry Vavrek hopes to get people to consider being a donor themselves as one donor can help up to 80 people. The funds raised this weekend will go towards a billboard in Debolt.