FANA to host Natives 'Drive for 500' dinner event at Yellowhead

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Published on Friday, June 6, 2014

By: Lanny Stewart

myWestman.ca

The Filipino community in the area, with support from HyLife Foods, will be hosting a dinner event later this month to help support the Neepawa Natives junior ‘A’ hockey club.

The event will take place Saturday, June 21 at the Yellowhead Centre and will consist of a supper, live music and other activities. The goal is to sell as many Natives season tickets as possible with all proceeds from the event going to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League club. The dinner is considered part of the Natives “Drive For 500” season ticket campaign. At this point, more than 220 season tickets have been sold. 

“The whole idea with driving season tickets is to get as many sold as we can now upfront,” said Trevor Lizotte, VP of domestic sales at Hylife and one of the organizers of the upcoming event. “If we get 3-400 [tickets sold], it would be a big push in momentum.”

He says the Filipino residents in the area were very grateful of the fundraiser that was put on by locals back in November 2013 which supported the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. 

“This is a way that they can give back to the community,” he said. 

Born and raised in Ont., Lizotte moved to Neepawa a few years ago and says he soon realized the Natives club has a storied history and believes with hard work by locals, the ‘good ’ol days’ will return.

“I’ve been told back in the day, the club drew somewhere between 800-900 fans a game,” he said. “They used to pack the place. The idea is to try and get back to that level. 

“There’s roots here,” he continued. “The people that are my age – late 30s, early 40s – they remember those good days. So the idea is to try and rekindle that.”

The fundraiser gets underway at 6 p.m.

More information about the event will be posted early next week.