Fathers, dads, pops, the old man; the person in your life that helped tie your skates, braided your hair, and taught you morals and values to help mold you into the person you are today. Fathers are incredible humans, and we wanted to show our appreciation to them with our Make My Father's Day.
Earlier this month, we asked you to nominate the dad in your life that has made an impact in your life or the lives of others into our Make My Father’s Day campaign and on Thursday evening, we treated 5 dads and their nominators to a fun night out at The Slice.
Unfortunately, one of the dads, Marc Schweitzer, could not attend as he had to coach his son’s baseball game (a very fitting reason). He was nominated by his wife, Joni Schweitzer, who says there isn’t much that Marc won’t do for others.
“He's the dad of my two sons and he is amazing with my children and all of the kids that he coaches. He's a volunteer with hockey. He's the assistant coach for both of my boys. He's a career firefighter in town who's in the community a lot with everything going on and he's also head coach of my oldest son's ball team. He just does everything that his family needs and the community and he's actually volunteered to go up and fight the fires in the North if they need them, so he's just an all-around amazing guy.”
Another one of our dads that had the chance to hang out with us was Nigel Heath who was the winner of a brand-new circular saw and Father's Day card. A father of two sons and nominated by his wife Renee Heath, who told us that Nigel is just one of those guys who were made for the role of Dad.
“He's just one of those people who was born to be a dad. He's hard working, he's patient, he's supportive, and he's involved not just at home but also at work. You kind of add in a catalog of Dad jokes and never-ending silliness, and it's just a perfect recipe for a great deserving dad.”
One of the amazing fathers that got to join us at The Slice was Larry Edwards. Nominated by Dawn Turnback, who’s not his technically biological daughter, but said Larry has treated them like family since day one and even adopted them legitimately later in life.
“He's just a great guy. You know you got to talk like that about with your dad, right? But no, he was a RCMP officer for most of his life, and he's been retired now for a while and he helps my brother with his carpentry business and he doesn’t really have any hobbies or anything kind of just sticks close to home but yeah, he’s a great guy.”
Another fantastic dad that we had the pleasure of being around was Gerry Kravanya. A father of four, nominated by his daughter Nancy Knous who touches on what makes him so fantastic as a father.
“Well, he had me. No, I'm just kidding, Dad has worked very hard for most of his life as a farmer and a finishing carpenter, and he's always helped. He has four kids, and he's always helped all of us. Anything that we need. The last little while he's had some health issues and just pushed right through them all and we’re on the other side. I just thought he deserved it.”
Last but most certainly not least, the winner of our Father’s Day gift basket was Allen Klassen. A teacher at the Weyburn Comprehensive School for nearly 20 years and a father to two daughters. He was nominated by his wife Kim Klassen, who talks about the qualities that make him so special.
“Well, I guess his loyalty. He's always able to fix anything electronic around the house too. So that's awfully helpful. It's not my area of expertise. So, I looked at him for that. Yeah, he's a pretty good teacher at school and a pretty good teacher for his kids at home. I don't think he would want to be known for that because he's pretty modest. But yeah, every teacher does have the ability to do that, and his focus has always been on that practical and applied arts curriculum. So mostly mechanics but also welding, electronics and that sort of stuff.”
A huge thank you to our sponsors for making the Make My Father’s Day event possible including: The Slice, Weeburn Hobbies, Elizabeth McMullen RMT, Home Hardware, Great Plains Ford, I-Zan Tire and TS&M Supply, Maurer’s Meats, T & C Dallas Pizza, and Moose Mountain Workwear.