Wheels for Tegan event raised over $65K

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The Wheels for Tegan event held Saturday evening raised over $65,000 for Tegan Nielsen and her family.

Over the past few months, several fundraisers were held for Tegan Nielsen and her family after the teenager suffered a severe spinal cord injury due to a tobogganing accident.

The GoFundMe is now at $144,990, and earlier this month, Inconnu Swim Club held a fundraiser at one of their swim meets.

The most recent fundraiser, Wheels for Tegan, was held at the Pomeroy Hotel and Conference Center on June 25th and was put together by a group of local parents, including North Peace Secondary School principal Todd Koponyas.

Koponyas says they had about 219 silent auction items, 272 tickets and about 250 people in attendance, not including volunteers.

“We got to a point where we had to thank people and say, ‘if you could donate cash or cheque, that would be a better situation,” he explained in response to the number of donated auction items.

“In my opinion, it went really well.”

Koponyas says they also had bag draws, balloon pops, and 50/50 draws every hour.

Everybody in attendance and even those who could not make it were entered into the draws.

The event started at 6:30 p.m., with The Roadside Distractions hitting the stage at 7 p.m. and playing for almost an hour.

Koponyas says people were dancing and having a good time at the fundraising event.

“We didn’t have tables reserved. We did that. The idea is to try to get more people to mingle and maybe sit with people they’ve never sat with before,” he explained.

“People were having a good time. People were dancing right until just after midnight. It was a lot of fun.”

Koponyas had many thank yous to extend, including Sound and Town, Pomeroy Hotel and their staff, and the people that came out and supported the event and their donations.

“There’s just so many people to list, and we’re always afraid to miss people. It’s overwhelming,” he said.

For the next two weeks, the Wheels for Tegan Facebook page will still be up to contact for cash or cheque donations.

The GoFundMe page is also still active.