Classic raised more than $60,000 for kids

The Daily Inter Lake

The 24th Annual Whitefish Winter Classic in early March raised more than $60,000 to continue helping families of children with life-threatening illnesses.

Doug Betters, a former NFL player who started the classic, said the three-day event generated a lot of fun along with the money needed to refill the coffers of For the Children Inc., the foundation that dispenses grants to families for travel and other nonmedical costs.

"In these economic times, we're happy to have a successful event," he said. "We're a little off from last year but we're happy to have money to put back into the kitty."

The event grossed $95,000 before expenses compared to $123,000 last year. Winter Classic officials haven't finished paying expenses but estimate the net proceeds at more than $60,000.

Betters, a former member of the Miami Dolphins, uses his contacts in the sports world to attract celebrities to the Flathead Valley for the event. This year's invited sports guests included Haloti Ngata of the Baltimore Ravens, Tuff Harris of the Tennessee Titans and Bobby Hauck, UM Grizzlies head football coach.

Betters was inspired to create the event and foundation after hearing so often about families struggling with the expense of getting sick children to distant medical centers. Each story is different and compelling.

Just as the 2009 classic was about to launch, For the Children provided $3,000 to the family of Donald Marquis, an 18-year-old from Eureka. The high school student was receiving treatment in Seattle for acute myeloid leukemia.

Before the assistance, Donald's mother and family were living out of their car as he received aggressive chemotherapy. The crisis hit when Donald's father was off work as an equipment operator with complications of a broken neck and his mother, a plumber, was not working due to a high-risk pregnancy.

After working with a volunteer to fill out an application, the family immediately had money deposited in its account that paid for an apartment.

The organization accepts donations to the Winter Classic/For the Children Inc. at P.O. Box 21, Whitefish, MT 59937.

For additional information or to download a donation form, go to whitefishwinterclassic.org.