By Sue Tiffin

Staff reporter
Published Aug. 23 2018

Less than 24 hours after Minden resident Craig Smith had been airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto following a fall on Aug. 22 the community Smith and his family are such a part of in Minden Hills was reaching out with positive messages and fundraising efforts in an attempt to support them through recovery.

“They are just those people who would give you the shirt off their backs” said Tracey Gilbert longtime friend of Craig and his wife Tammy. “They support every community event and love to do whatever they can for kids especially. They are selfless never asking for anything in return.”

Tracey along with Cheryl Hamilton opened a bank account for donations to help relieve stress off of the couple.

“We can’t help Craig heal any faster but we can put his mind at ease that everything is taken care of” said Gilbert. “We love that we live in a community that drops everything to help out. You just don’t get this anywhere else.”

The Smiths had taken over running the Minden Minor Baseball League for kids as a not-for-profit this year after helping the township run the youth softball league for the past 10 years. They also run the adult lob ball league. In 2016 they won the Sports and Recreation volunteer award from Minden Hills township for their efforts.

Hamilton is organizing a raffle that will take place at the adult ball league tournament on Sept. 15.

“The community has rallied together for this family and I’ve had so many people contact me wanting to donate” she said. An online post made about the raffle by Hamilton elicited a quick response from community members who donated gift certificates and gift baskets from their businesses.

Hamilton is also hoping to organize a one-day baseball tournament on Oct. 27 to raise donations for the Smiths and has asked the township to waive rental fees for the event.

“Craig and Tammy have been an integral part of getting our kids ball league started and took over running it themselves this past year” said Hamilton. “They also manage our adult league. Baseball is their life. Both born and raised here I am positive they have made an impact on every person in this community in some form. They’d be the first to help out with any fundraiser and step up and our community truly believes this and is giving back now.”

Details of Craig’s injuries are not known at this time. Family and friends have sent positive messages via social media and can also do so through the Sunnybrook hospital email-a-patient web page: https://sunnybrook.ca/contact/patient/ .

“He’ll love all the messages when he’s ready I’m sure of it” said Hamilton.

Donations can be e-transferred to traceygilbert7@gmail.com or cherylsmith10@hotmail.com. Both Gilbert and Hamilton are accepting cash donations in person for the account or donations can be made directly to a TD Bank account in trust for Craig Smith 30422-004-6369026.

The Times will update this story when more information is available.