Search-and-rescue fundraiser keeps legacy alive

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This article was published 10/08/2017 (3038 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the years after a boating accident claimed Kevin Howie’s life, his parents worked hard to keep his legacy alive.

The form it took was fitting. Kevin had grown up on Nutimik Lake, where Brian and Nancy-Jo Howie kept a cabin. So when he vanished on a morning fishing trip in May 2005, it sent a shockwave through the lake’s tight-knit community.

For 27 days, the family searched for their son’s body. It was expensive: the cost of gas, lodging and walkie-talkies for the search parties added up. At last, they found Kevin in nearby Numao Lake, and laid him to rest.

That year, they vowed no family should have to bear that strain again. So they founded the Kevin Howie Search and Rescue Fund, and set about raising money. The community rallied around them quickly to help build it up.

For years, their annual garage sale was a seasonal staple for the Nutimik Lake community, crammed with donated items. In an average year, the event raised around $2,000, all of it going to the fund they made in their son’s name.

But as time wore on, the work weighed heavier on their shoulders. The Howies, who are retired, scaled back on the scope of the event and this year they knew it was time for them to step back. Still, they wanted Kevin’s legacy to go on.

“It’s the only thing we can do to pay back all those people who felt our pain and helped us,” Nancy-Jo Howie said.

Now, the Whiteshell community is stepping up to keep the Kevin Howie fundraiser going, with a Saturday event they hope will draw folks out to the pretty lake, which is about 130 kilometres east of Winnipeg on Highway 307.

This year, instead of a garage sale, there will be a family-fun shindig at Nutimik Lodge. A band will perform from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and there will be hotdogs and 50/50 tickets.

To organizers, helping the Howies is the least they can do.

“It’ll be a lot of fun,” Nutimik Lodge co-owner Dale Erickson said. “It’s our first year trying it, and we’re hoping we can continue year after year.”

Over the years, some money from the fund has been used to purchase safety equipment for the Nutimik Lake lodges, including neck braces and defibrillators. The fund has also paid for CPR training for some year-round residents.

But most of the cash remains in the bank, there to support another family that goes through the unthinkable. In the 12 years since Kevin died, they haven’t had to use it. That’s good news, and they dread the day that changes.

“I just want the money there so when somebody needs it, it’s there,” Nancy-Jo says. “I hope no one ever needs it, and we never have to spend it. Then maybe we’ll start donating interest yearly to a boys and girls club.”

As the Howies prepare to hand over the fundraiser, Nancy-Jo is grateful for the community moving to take up the torch of Kevin’s legacy. About 100 people live year-round in the area.

“For Brian and I, it’s still a daily loss, a daily grief,” she said “We couldn’t have done any of this without the people in the community… it’s an absolutely wonderful community. We had no idea we had so many friends, until this.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca