It was a memorial bench at Stan Slack field that Kristie Buckingham-Butler says helped inspire her to start a foundation in her grandmother’s name.
Marnie Slack “did everything for everyone,” said the founder of the Marnie Slack Foundation for Youth.
“She was the nicest person in the world, and I wanted her to just be honoured.”
Known for working the concession stand at Errol Russell Park, where the field in 2016 was named in honor of Buckingham-Butler’s grandfather and Sarnia Brigade co-founder Stan Slack, Marnie Slack was also honored with a memorial bench at the park this summer at the urging of Lori Slack, Buckingham-Butler’s aunt.
Marnie Slack died Nov. 5, 2021, on Buckingham-Butler’s birthday, Buckingham-Butler said.
It was the bench that inspired her to carry on Slack’s memory, she said Sunday, preparing to host the foundation’s first event at the Royal Canadian Legion branch in Sarnia.
Proceeds from the event, called It Takes a Village, have been earmarked for the family of a friend facing terminal cancer, she said.
“It’s very common now in Sarnia that there’s a lot of children not being raised by their parents,” Buckingham-Butler said. “We have to all come together and we have to literally just set a good example, because the children are the future.”
The event was featuring dancing, ornament making, food, treats, a raffle and entertainment, she said.
The foundation, which has applied for charitable status, is also broadly aimed at helping kids, she said.
“I want to focus on giving kids a sense of belonging and I want their home life to be as ideal as it can be,” she said, though how hasn’t been determined yet.
“Honestly, this is my passion,” she said.
Other fundraising events are in the works, she said, noting plans were to start with events next year, before her friend received her cancer diagnosis.
Her grandparents were both dedicated fundraisers in the community, though her grandmother was more behind the scenes, Buckingham-Butler said.
“And we all know that (Marnie Slack) was the backbone to all of it … so it was time for her to shine.”
Sunday’s event was made possible with a number of community sponsors, she said, noting hopes are to host it annually.
“A lot of people were shocked that I could whip this together quick, but this is what we do,” she said about fundraising and her family.
“We’ve done it our whole (lives).”