Deh Cho rallies behind former resident
Residents raise funds to support Mike Chemerys after he was diagnosed with cancer
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Monday, February 29, 2016
DEH CHO
The Deh Cho takes care of its own - that much was apparent last week when an online fundraiser for former Fort Simpson resident Mike Chemerys skyrocketed past its $3,000 goal.
By press time on Feb. 26, the amount raised had hit $6,250.
The money is intended to support Chemerys as he undergoes treatment for cancer.
Affectionately known as "Papa Mike" to his friends in the Deh Cho, Chemerys left Fort Simpson in 2006 and has been living in Dawson Creek, B.C. since.
The impact of his years in the Deh Cho, where he built up the snowmobiling community in Fort Simpson and Fort Providence, still lingers and the online fundraiser - facilitated through Go Fund Me - was just one of many. On the weekend of Feb. 19, during Fort Providence's annual Fun Run, friends and acquaintances raised money from participants to send his way as well.
Chemerys had planned to be at the run but couldn't make it due to his health problems. Although an official count was not available at press time, Fort Providence Snowmobile Club member Steven Vandell said people had donated hundreds of dollars.
"(Chemerys) helped us form our Ski-Doo club ... he passed his knowledge on to us," Vandell said of why the club was raising money.
The money raised was set to be hand-delivered to Chemerys by one of the club's members, Vandell said, who would travel to B.C. to give it to him in person.
Community members in Fort Simpson are rallying behind Chemerys as well.
Courtney Squirrel and Yvonne Horassi decided to start fundraising locally by putting a donation box at the local CIBC branch, although CIBC is not affiliated with the fundraising effort. Squirrel said she and Horassi put together the fundraiser after hearing community members ask how they could help Chemerys. They hope to have more boxes put around the community in the future.
So far, they have collected $1,700.
"It's been mostly word-of-mouth," Squirrel said.
Reached by phone in Victoria on Feb. 22, Chemerys said he was blown away by the outpouring of support from the Deh Cho.
"The way the whole NWT has come together to lend their support to me, it just blows my mind," he said.
During his time in Fort Simpson, Chemerys provided audio and visual translation equipment to Dehcho First Nations and other groups. In his free time, he started to organize snowmobile events for Fort Simpson's Beavertail Jamboree.
"I ultimately ended up creating Track and Trails snowmobile club, which ended up becoming over a short period of time a club that should be taken as an example," he said.
"The way it grew and expanded in such a short time (was great)."
As his work with translation equipment took him to communities across the Northwest Territories, he began working to set up fun runs in those communities - such as Fort Providence - as well.
That eventually led to the development of Fort Providence's snowmobile club.
"It took off from there and is still going strong today," he said.
Although he lived in Fort Simpson, Chemerys says he considers the people of Fort Providence to be an extended family of sorts.
Since leaving the Northwest Territories, Chemerys sold his sled and hasn't made it to a Fun Run since.
This year, however, things might change - he said he is hoping to get in on Fort Providence's summer event, the Mud Run, for quads and side-by-sides.
"I just picked myself up a new side-by-side, so I've already said that barring any unseen problems, I'm going to be there for the Mud Run," he said.
