Tyson Roberts was an up-and-coming name in Quesnel and the northern BC rodeo community, fresh off a provincial High School Rodeo saddle bronc title, when he suffered a serious spinal injury at a Prince George rodeo event in June.
Immediately a donation line was set up to help him and his family through the challenging time, but that wasn’t enough for PG Western Heritage Society President Kevin Cunin.
Cunin suffered a very similar injury in 2015, which left him paralyzed, and remembered the support he got from the rodeo community afterwards.
“Through the long rehab, the support that I had was just awesome. The support was a big part of it,” he says.
Feeling personally connected after hearing about Roberts’ injury, Cunin “knew we had to do what we could.”
This weekend there is a youth rodeo in Nukko Lake where funds will be raised, but he says that did not feel like enough.
When he played Lacrosse, Cunin remembered fundraising through pub meals being very successful.
“I reached out to some people at the Canadian Brewhouse, and said ‘hey, this is what’s going on. What are the chances we can do something?’ And they jumped on board right away.”
The lunch will take place on Saturday, August 13th at the Brewhouse from 11-3pm.
Cunin says they have 150 tickets for the event, but would love to sell more.
They do not have a set goal to fundraise, instead “trying to do everything we can to get him on his way.”
“There’s going to be a lot of alterations and modifications he has to do around his health and around vehicles. I know kind of what that looks like and how expensive that can be.”
Tickets for the meal are available for cash at Spruce Capital Feeds and cost $25 for a burger and $35 for a steak.
There will also be a silent auction at the event.
Six years after his injury, Cunin returned to the horseback in a competition in Smithers with a custom made saddle after being told by doctors he would never ride again.
For more information on the fundraiser and the pub meal, click here.
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