Fundraising has brought in tens of thousands of dollars for Levi Jamieson’s family.
In November, Moosomin’s Levi Jamieson and his friend Zayn Leslie got into an accident. Leslie escaped with minor injuries, but Jamieson had to be rushed by STARS ambulance to Regina. Once there it was decided to fly him to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.
Jamieson was moved to the General Hospital in Regina and now is back in Moosomin, but he still has a long recovery period ahead of him.
When people in the communities in the surrounding area heard about this, there came a wave of support for the family.
A cow pie bingo was organized to get Jamieson’s livestock involved in fundraising. There was also a Conexus Credit Union account set up under the name Love 4 Levi where people could simply deposit donations.
Two local hockey teams and two local businesses also showed their support for Levi and the Jamieson family and the Predators softball team came out one last time show why they were champions.
Cow Pie Bingo
Alana Webb took on the challenge of live streaming a cow pie bingo event on Facebook, as an interesting way to raise some money for the Jamieson family.
“It only seems fitting to get the cows involved to help raise money,” said Webb.
The location for the cow pie bingo was Ja-Lyn Farms located about four miles east of Welwyn, and was attended by Alana Webb who helped organize the event and Brooke Lowes who is part of the Ja-Lyn Farms crew. The Jamieson family was also represented by Levi’s brother Devon Jamieson, his sister Cheyenne Jamieson, his sister-in-law Stacy Jamieson, his uncle Keith Turpie and even his niece and nephew were there for the event.
“They actually ended up bringing Levi’s animals. They brought some of his dairy cows and his horse Buddy, two of his heavy horses and his sister’s 4-H heifer,” said Webb.
For two hours the animals were alternating in the area where the squares were set up for the event. Sadly, Levi’s animals became camera shy.
“Not one of the animals had a poop. It was really funny. We dragged it out and then said okay this is getting too long. Then Brooke went and got one of her heifers out of the feed lot. It pooped three times before it came in the rink and walked in and instantly had a poop and it was done,” said Webb.
One of the nice things about the virtual event, was that Levi could see what was happening as he face-timed his friends and family who were at the farm.
“Of course, Brooke had to tease Levi about it, because it was one of hers. But it was awesome, we had lots of fun,” said Webb.
The event was not just a lot of fun, it was also a huge success.
“After the event I got a cheque wrote for $11,270 and then I still had a few late donations come in, but that was the initial amount,” said Webb.
The cow pie bingo money will be added to the ‘Love 4 Levi’ account set up through Conexus Credit Union.
‘Love 4 Levi’ Conexus account
The idea of the ‘Love 4 Levi’ account came from Lindsey Miller who saw it as the simplest way to raise money during a pandemic. Once word got out, people from as far as Saskatoon responded.
“It has been super successful. People have definitely come together. We have had people from all over donate. I actually had someone call me from Saskatoon. He is originally from Ontario. He had called me because he had seen our article in the World-Spectator. He just wanted to call and tell the family that he had a grandson in Ontario that went through the same thing. His grandson was in an induced coma for months and so this kind of hit home for him. He actually donated money and he doesn’t even know the Jamieson family whatsoever. He just donated to the cause, because it really hit home for him. He was quite emotional, it was a tough call to take,” said Miller.
The gentleman from Saskatoon was one of many people who sent in donations to the account.
“Everybody has been so generous. Every day I look at the account and it is amazing seeing that during these tough times people are still willing to help out this family. It has been very humbling seeing the response from the community,” said Miller.
The account has raised over $10,000 just through deposits and that amount will grow extensively with the funds from the cow pie bingo and other fundraising efforts in the area.
“I had all these big ideas to do things, but with COVID-19 right now it is so uncertain that we just knew that something like this would be successful, because you would not have to worry about things being cancelled. I think what we have done so far is pretty big. It is not to say that in the future we wouldn’t think of doing something else for them, because we are sure Levi has a long recovery ahead of him,” said Miller.
Predators softball team
The Predators, an all girl softball team that used to be based out of Moosomin between 2006 and 2018 has reemerged in support of the Love 4 Levi fundraiser.
“I coached and managed a successful girls softball team from 2006 to 2018. The Predators was our name and the Jamiesons were huge supporters of our team with their daughter Cheyenne being a part of our 2014 Western Canadian Championship team,” said Dale Nixon.
The team that was comprised of players from all over the southeast corner of Saskatchewan no longer exists, but their legacy remains and so does money from some of their fundraising efforts over the years.
“Our club had some funds from all the years of fundraising left over so I got my coaching partner, Peter Nabholz, and a few of the long time Predators together and we decided to give $5,000 to Love 4 Levi,” said Nixon.
Those who wish to donate to Love 4 Levi account can go to any Conexus branch in the area or e-transfer funds by e-mailing lovefourlevi@gmail.com.
For more information, people can call Lindsey Miller at 306-434-6776. There is also a Facebook page called ‘Love 4 Levi’ that people can visit and show support.
