Auction raises $10,944

Trish and I are proud to announce that the 2026 #Dominicstrong auction was another huge success, raising $10,944 this past weekend.

The 12th annual online auction was another success thanks to both the bidders and those who donated, of which there were many on both sides of the ledger. Including items which we sold duplicate or in some cases triplicate copies of, there were 137 purchases made ranging from $11 Lego sets to $760 for a private box at a Medicine Hat Tigers game.

All the prizes were paid for by 3 p.m. the day after the auction closed, and as of typing this we're down to a dozen items left in our house to be picked up. That's exceptional; almost as though everyone involved knows how it all works by now.

My parents were here for the weekend as has become tradition, putting names on items and sorting them as we got payments and started pickups Sunday night. It definitely wouldn't go so smoothly without them, either. 

While all the money winds up with the Alberta Children's Hospital via Extra Life's platform, I split up the donations to four different team members who helped put together the auction as a show of appreciation for all the help we had this year. Trish got $7,444, I got $2,000, Krista $1,000, and Nicole $500. Sara helped too but doesn't have a fundraising page this year as she's not going to be in town for our big marathon gaming day Nov. 7-8. Next year?

Speaking of game day, I'd previously mentioned it'll be a private house party situation this time. Last year was 10 years since Dominic's passing, and we knew it had to be a bigger event. This time, we'll still have lots of fun and offer ways to get involved in the event and raise more money, but most of it will be virtual. I'm not even sure if we'll stream the whole thing, honestly. We haven't talked about details; life has been way too much this year.

No matter what the future holds, thank you for being on the journey with us. Dominic would've turned 14 next week and I hope he'd be as happy as I remember him. Hopefully the work we've done has put some thumbs-ups into the world.

If you missed the auction and want to contribute something, visit www.extra-life.org/team/dominicstrong and pick any of our members to donate through.