The Lambton College men's baseball team will host a unique fundraiser this weekend, when it welcomes Sault College to town for a doubleheader.
Proceeds from the September 20 games at Errol Russell Park will help support the ongoing construction of Bluewater Health Foundation's $5 million cancer care clinic redevelopment.
The games are scheduled for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
It's hoped at least $10,000 can be generated through the 'Curveballs for Cancer Care' event, which is presented by Marcotte Disposal.
Lions Head Coach Al Bezaire said it's a cause that's near and dear to his heart.
"In July of 2023 my wife, Erika, who was 41 at the time and mother of our three young daughters, was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer," said Bezaire. "After two surgeries, two chemo treatments over five months, 20 radiation treatments and about 50 weeks of treatment she was able to beat that stage two breast cancer. A huge part, we feel, in her cancer success was the incredible and amazing care that she received locally here close to family and friends. It was an amazing team of saintly people, headed by Dr. Julie Lebert who is the medical oncologist here at Bluewater Health and all of those amazing nurses."
Bezaire said admission is free, but there will be some exciting prizes up for grabs.
"We're going to have a penny-style table raffle, we've been fortunate enough to have over 40 prizes donated," he said. "We're going to have a few little games as well to give out some prizes. We're currently selling a separate raffle right now. A huge thanks to WestJet for sponsoring this fundraiser. We're raffling off one round trip flight for two, anywhere WestJet flies with $550 cash. Second place is four Blue Jays tickets in the lower bowl with a night in downtown Toronto at the Le Germain Hotel at Maple Leafs Square. Third prize is a custom set of Lambton College Lions cornhole boards."
Bezaire said the raffle tickets are selling fast, and they're likely to sell out.
They can be purchased at the Bluewater Health Foundation at 89 Norman Street in Sarnia, by emailing Al at allan.bezaire@lambtoncollege.ca or by contacting any member of the Lions team.
Overall, Bezaire expects the Lions to have a strong team once again this season.
They captured a silver medal at the 2024 OCAA championships.
"We're coming off of our best year ever in our program's history," said Bezaire. "Quite frankly, on paper, we're stronger in every facet of the game. We should be very competitive. I have high expectations for us this year. We've really come a long way as a program. It's a testament to our players and coaches for building this program up. We hope to maintain that level of success that we accomplished last year. Anything less than winning will, quite frankly, be a disappointment this year."
Meanwhile, the first patients were treated at the newly renovated cancer care clinic space in April of this year.
A state-of-the-art lab was completed in 2022, and the expansion of an outpatient pharmacy in the final phase will ensure timely access to critical medications and chemotherapy treatments.
Construction of the final phase is underway, and the project is expected to be fully completed by early 2026.
The redevelopment, originally announced in May 2023, is being fully funded through philanthropy.
The original $3.7 million fundraising campaign goal increased to $5 million after the project was first announced.