The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
"I'm extremely overwhelmed with the community's support." That's what Arlene Murray was saying yesterday after depositing nearly $1,300 into the account for a charity she helped create. She and Wendy Rye formed The Lachlan Leel Emergency Fund to assist the parents of Lachlan Leel, an infant who recently underwent open heart surgery in Edmonton. The last of the collection buckets for the fund, which were in local businesses and taxi cabs for about two weeks, will be removed today. Murray and Rye won't know the final amount raised until those buckets are retrieved, but they are already amazed at the response the fund has garnered. An additional $220 for the fund came from the Flin Flon Motorcycle Association, which held a meat draw for the charity. Meanwhile, Murray noted that young Lachlan has "had an amazing recovery" and returned home over the weekend. Interestingly, Murray was motivated to help Lachlan's parents because she was flooded with generosity two years ago after her family's Third Avenue house burnt down. "The community touched our hearts and will for the rest of our lives," she said. "I know what kind of a wonderful community we have and I know how this community pulls together in times of need. They prove it over and over again." Young Lachlan was born with a condition known as Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection, a rare congenital heart defect that has required the infant to have two separate surgeries. He received his first surgery in Edmonton on October 15 and later went back for a second surgery to reconstruct his chest plate.
