As is often the case in Thompson, a frigid night proved no obstacle to packing the house at Letkemann Theatre at R.D. Parker Collegiate Dec. 8 for the inaugural Old Fashioned Christmas Concert.
Despite early evening temperatures hovering in the -35 C range, close to 500 guests turned out for the A Port in the Storm fundraiser.
A Port in the Storm is a housing initiative for the exclusive benefit of people living in Northern and rural Manitoba, and who have to stay in Winnipeg for extended lengths of time for medical reasons. The project will provide a safe and supportive environment, close to major Winnipeg hospitals, with home-like amenities, leisure activities for the family, places for quiet reflection, socializing and dining with other guests.Northern board member Penny Byer said more than $900,000 of the $1.5-million fundraising goal it has before its big public launch this coming winter has already been raised.
The project got a big shot in the arm in October when Former Thompson resident Gail Morberg, who used to own Calm Air, donated $100,000 to A Port in the Storm. Morberg and her late husband, Arnold, built Manitoba's largest privately owned commercial airline - Calm Air - starting with single-engine bush planes in Lynn Lake.
She sold Calm Air International last March to Exchange Industrial Income Fund (EIIF) of Winnipeg for $59 million. Exchange Industrial is a diversified, acquisition-oriented income trust, which also owns Perimeter Aviation Ltd.
Joanne Loughery, president and board chair of A Port in the Storm, who also teaches oncology nursing at Red River College, said in Thompson last month the committee must raise $6.4 million in total and $5.11 million will go towards construction; $220,000 will go towards the building site; it will take around $250,000 to furnish the house; a $500,000 endowment; and around $400,000 in development costs.
According to Loughery, each year rural and Northern Manitobans spend over 160,000 patient days in Winnipeg, with 15,298 coming from the Burntwood Regional Health Authority (BRHA).
Byer said once the $1.5 million is raised, they will start applying for matching funds and other contributions from government and other granting programs. The committee would like to see $300,000 to $350,000 raised in the Thompson region and $150,000 to $250,000 in the Flin Flon region, Loughery said.
The Thompson Citizen and Nickel Belt News hosted the Christmas concert. General manager Donna Wilson said close to $3,000 was raised during the evening of the concert for A Port in the Storm.
The A Port in the Storm project started when Loughery and Pat Benjaminson, both oncology nurses, and a former patient of theirs, Greg Pilgrim, decided to honour the dying wish of cancer victim Sue Leslie.
Leslie was a single mother living in rural Manitoba who had struggled with the financial and emotional burdens of staying in Winnipeg for treatment and mothering her son. She vowed she would help build an affordable home-like environment for people like her.
It was a big night for the Murphys with Pastor Dan Murphy of the Thompson Pentecostal Assembly getting things with the invocation, while his wife, Nadine Murphy, was on stage several times later playing piano and singing.The music kicked off, however, with a three-song set by the Thompson Community Band, under the direction of Californian Wally Itson, a vice-principal at R.D. Parker Collegiate, with the band offering their first public concert after a six-month performance hiatus since they were guest performers last June 16 at the Thompson Music Teachers annual concert.
Many familiar faces were out for the evening offering one sort of performance or another. Melissa Kelly, who fronted R.D. Parker Collegiate's Adrenaline Jazz for a Christmas performance in 2007 and has performed at other charity events, including Relay Life, sang. Another local pianist, Betsy Wrana, who was one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Thompson Community Band in the fall of 2006, accompanied by Tennessean David Wolfe, choral director at R.D. Parker Collegiate, as he sang.
David Boyce, a drama instructor at R.D. Parker, showed a flair for playing the green-skinned Grinch, who warms up to the spirit of Christmas, as the evening unfolded.
Among the other performers, but by no means an all-inclusive list, were Lilly Curran, who sang accompanied by Nadine Murphy; an intermission jazz combo in the Forum featuring bassist Natalie Pegus, drummer Travis Wilson, guitarist Zak Chaboyer, Daniel Palmer, playing the alto sax and trumpeter Dana Waldie; Erin's School of Irish Dance performers Savannah Szocs, Allison Turton, Erin Leinberger and Erin Taylor Goble; the Zorya Ukrainian Dance Group, featuring Kira Milligan, Emma and Kyle Tomchuk, Alysha and Andrea Domann, Hannah Lowen, Emma, Zak, J.S. and Victor Hrabarchuk, Denvyr and Schyi Reeves, Tenness Graham, Jordan Hamilton, Simon Wolski and Teaghan and Alex Stokes.
Also performing were Jacquie Dram, Lorri Harris, June Steadman, Ruth Stewart and Doris Crooks of Quintet.
