The Bluewater Boxing Club is set to host an evening of ‘pugilistic performance’ at the Badger Hanger at Sarnia Airport next month, all for a great cause.
RE/MAX is teaming up with the club for a night of boxing, dinner and a silent auction at the Airport Road venue on May 11, where four local realtors will step foot in the ring in support of the Children’s Miracle Network, as they box to raise money to help local families in need.
Participants include April Bernard, Jane Baker, Steven Taylor and Kraig Durco, all from RE/MAX.
“My first daughter [Lilah] was born up there, we spent about 30 days,” Steven Taylor said of the Children's Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). “I can tell you if I was in the U.S., a couple-million dollar bill would be coming my way with all the surgeries and things she had to undergo.”
The Children’s Miracle Network raises funds for children’s hospitals and foundations across North America, including London’s Children’s Health Foundation, to help take some of the burden off of families who are already facing stressful and emotional times.
She is six-years-old now — a happy, sweet and outgoing girl who loves to swim and play at the park.
Having been impacted, Taylor knows the importance of raising money to help provide life-saving care for children.
“Everything is custom made; you’re dealing with babies that are two and three pounds, so the technology is unbelievable — and unbelievably expensive, obviously — one of those beds can be huge dollars,” explained Taylor.
“So we are raising money to make sure they have everything they need to save these children's lives.”
Taylor says April Barnard, the RE/MAX broker of record, approached him to speak at the event, but he offered a little more than that.
“I said I could probably get in there and fight,” he said.
“What better way to raise to raise money than to say, 'Hey we're getting in the ring to fight somebody.’
RE/MAX is staging the event in partnership with the Bluewater Boxing Club — which is also providing training to the four realtors stepping into the ring. The event will give Bluewater Boxing a chance to showcase some of their own fighters as well.
“We are so blessed to have Tom there,” Taylor said of club president Tom Hennessey. “He is there every morning with us doing the pads, tons of coaching and tons of technical stuff, putting us through a great workout.”
Taylor says the participating realtors arrive at the club everyday for 8 a.m. to train, and when possible, they join the club for evening sessions as well.
“We are very lucky that he was willing to take this on, because if we didn’t have his training, it’d be a pretty scary situation getting there,” said Taylor.
The main driver of it is RE/MAX, says Hennessey.
“It was the brainchild of April and Jane. They’ve been training a long time with me, and they said, 'you know what, let's go and try this.’”
Hennessey, who is no stranger to helping local causes through the Club, says training is going well with the four RE/MAX agents. He is not only training them, but has also found boxers for them to face on May 11, and has been giving them a condensed training schedule in order to get them ready.
“I give the four of them full bones, they have been working their butts off and they are going to shock people with how far they’ve come along.”
Their ultimate goal is to get a good crowd, and make as much money for the Children’s Miracle Network and put on a good show at the same time, says Hennessey.
“Nobody wants to go in there and look bad, and they’re not going too. They are working their butts off. I am proud of the four of them, when I give them a task to do, they do it.”
Not only is this a great chance for Hennessey and the boxing club to give back to the community, but a chance as well to showcase some the local talent within the club too.
“We are also going to use our own fighters to fill the show, guys like Mike, Xander, Noah and some of the other boxers, we’re gonna bring in fighters so they can fill the show. Probably 12 bouts,” Hennessey said of the event.
“Hopefully the event continues to grow,” said Taylor. “We would love to have other local people from the community, local business owners or others well known in the community that can get in there and raise some money, ultimately.”
Doors open at 4 p.m., with dinner served at 5:30. The bouts begin at 7 p.m., and a live auction will take place in between bouts.
Tickets are still available here.