A quiver of Greater Trail archers banded together on Sunday to help out a local family who lost their home to a fire in Paterson last week.
Jay Mykietyn of Secret Creek Ranch and about 20 other archers quickly banded together and organized an impromptu shoot on Sunday to raise money for Rob and Jenn Hadley who emerged from the fire unscathed but lost virtually everything in the blaze.
“We planned it on Thursday afternoon and we pulled it off Sunday all day,” said Mykietyn. “We raised over $2,600.”
While about 20 archers participated in the Secret Creek shoot, closer to 60 friends, family, and supporters joined them for lunch where most of the fundraising occurred.
“They are very close friends,” said Mykietyn. “Rob’s helped us out at the house there and with the kennels . . . and once he met his girlfriend and got married, he bought his place in Paterson and had his own animals and own little hobby farm.”
The archery course at the Waneta area ranch is open all summer, and for just $5 archers can shoot the targets with all funds donated to the Rob and Jenn Hadley Trust Fund at the Scotia Bank in the Waneta Mall where residents can also make donations or at the Kootenay Savings Credit Union.
The ranch also hosts the Mad Trapper Archery Shoot in June, which has been a popular event for over 10 years now, and a regular contributor to various charities including the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters Burn Unit, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Trail Hospice, and Sanctuary House among others.
Secret Creek Ranch is located behind the Wanteta Plaza Mall at 1151 Bear Creek Road.
Turn onto Devito Drive, past Rosewood Village and follow the signs to the ranch.