A community barbecue is being held Monday to carry on the fundraising efforts of a Wallaceburg man, who was recently hit by a truck.
Before his accident on June 30, Rick Bernard was planning an event called "Rick's Ride for Hope," raising money for the Ronald McDonald House by riding his bicycle from Wallaceburg to London. Now that he's in recovery, Co-Operators employee Nick Cadotte is hosting a barbecue for him instead.
"Nick has been very supportive actually of everything from day one. He's an actual friend of mine before everything started, so there's that connection there as well... he said he still wanted to see it happen and here we are today. We're going to have people come out and get pork on a bun and it's all going to be by donation," explains Bernard.
Bernard says he isn't letting his accident get in the way of his fundraising goals.
"My goal overall was $5,000. I always said since the beginning if I raise $5,000, great, if I raise more, bonus, if I didn't raise that much, then that's fine too. Every little bit I was going to get was going to help the house out," says Bernard.
Bernard says the cause is close to his heart after spending many hours at the Ronald McDonald House.
"I have twin boys, who just turned nine in March, and they were born six weeks early. One had a diaphragmatic hernia, which is an extensive medical procedure that they had to do to repair [it]," says Bernard.
The barbecue runs from 11am to 1pm Monday at 520 James St. in Wallaceburg.
