Port McNeill resident Kayla Dawn Brady was a passenger involved in a singular motor vehicle incident back on June 29 where she sustained a serious injury.
After recently undergoing surgery for a broken vertebrae in her neck (C5 spinal injury), Brady is now looking at a lengthy stay in Vancouver while she recovers.
Meanwhile, the local communities back home in the North Island have banded together to help support her and her family over the long road that still lies ahead.
North Island wildlife photographer Anthony Bucci sold prints of his photographs outside of Mugz 2.0, where he managed to raise over $5,000 in one day, all of which went directly to Brady’s family.
Bucci said he heard about the accident the day after it happened, and while he doesn’t personally know Brady, he’d met her mom a couple years ago when he’d had some prints for sale in her store.
He noted that other friends of his family were also involved in the accident, and he felt that his photography “would bring everyone together for a good cause and to show support to someone in need. The power of photography is strong and it showed this past week. We have helped out and given back with numerous other events within the community. We like to be supportive and we believed this was a great opportunity to help Kayla and her family through a difficult time.”
The idea to do a print fundraiser “was only thought up two days before we actually did it,” he added. “Mugz 2.0 was so helpful in all of this as well. There were people coming and going all day, donations coming in like crazy. Some donations were from tourists from other parts of the world that had no idea what happened or who was involved. Some of those tourists picked out a 8x10 print and donated $500.”
All told, the generosity was fantastic.
“My wife and I went home, I counted all the cash donations and she did all the square donations. When we saw the grand total of $5,244 we both looked at each and said, ‘wow, how amazing is that.’ Thanks to a one day fundraiser, we were able to bring that much in for the family. It speaks volumes on how many caring people are out there.”
Mugz 2.0 was actually the first business to kick off the fundraising by donating all the proceeds from the sales of Brady’s own drink that she created, the “Sunset Refresher.”
The very next day, there were numerous local companies and individuals coming up with fundraisers to help out the family, including: Gus’ Pub, Pharmachoice, Timberland Sports, Shoprite, Petro Can, Fields, Tia’s Cafe, IGA, Island Foods, Reaper Signs Killer Designs, Allmac Repair, Coastal Community Credit Union, Robin’s Pet Supplies, Essentials Refillery, Charmed Charcuterie, Devils’ Bath Brewing Co., the Town of Port McNeill, RCMP, Ambulance service, Port McNeill Fire Rescue, Tanya Spafford, Devrianne Snowdon, Eva Koel, Graham Mackay, and Rainbow Kennedy.
“The amount of generosity is out of this world on the North Island,” stated Bucci. “We have to remember we just did a bunch of hockey fundraising with the U18 North Island Eagles, grad fundraising, and all the other sports team fundraising, and the North island still stood strong and donated. It really speaks to the kind of caring people we have here.”
To make a donation to the family to help with Brady’s recovery, you can e-transfer them at akbrady@qcislands.net
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