The Fort Saskatchewan Legion raised thousands of dollars for a local dart player.
Jaxson Danis, 13, is less than a week away from hopping on a plane to the Netherlands to take part in the World Dart Masters. To help pay for the expenses of such a big trip, the legion put on a massive fundraiser last Saturday (Nov. 26) night.
Around 80 people took part in the event, enjoying a home-cooked meal, darts tournament, and a toonie toss to win a 60lb bottle of Crown Royale.
Danis' mom, Sherilyn, helped to organize the event and said it was a massive success.
"I had a number of people coming up to me saying they loved the meal," said Sherilyn. "We had three months to raise some cash and we were able to do that."
"What I found really special and overwhelming, was the amount of people supporting Jaxson. We got to introduce our dart family to our family.
In total, the fundraiser gathered about $4500 which should be enough to cover expenses for Jaxson and one of his parents.
The funds didn't just come from locals. The darts community had people travel long distances to help support Jaxon.
"There were people that I didn't know that showed up for dinner which is great," said Sherilyn. "We had people from Gibbons, Edmonton, Leduc, all the way to Fort McMurray."
Not only did they reach their fundraising goal, but the event brought out some people who had never played darts before that took part in a fun tournament at the event.
"Interestingly enough, we had 24 new players to darts," said Sherilyn. "We actually have some people interested in joining our darts community, so that's a really good outcome."
Unfortunately, Jaxson wasn't able to stay for the entire event due to illness. He showed up for the first bit but came down with a fever and had to leave after a few hours.
Though disappointing, it gave the crowd a moment to cheer him on one last time before he heads to Europe.
"When I had to announce that Jaxon was going home, everyone stood up, clapped, and chanted his name," said Sherilyn. "Of course, there were tears flowing then."
The Danis family is set to leave for the Netherlands next Monday (Dec. 5) and then be at the event for about 10 days.