SILVERTIPS RAISE OVER $63,000 FOR DAVE PILAND FUNDRAISER
The Everett Silvertips (Western Hockey League) are proud to announce that through the generosity of our fans and the community, the team has raised $63,584.53 over the past month to benefit the team’s public address announcer, Dave Piland, who has been battling cancer all season.
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rPiland, who has been the team’s public announcer since the team’s inaugural season in 2003, has been waging a courageous battle against an aggressive malignant brain tumor since October 2005. After suffering headaches and losing his balance, he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with level 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Since his diagnosis, Dave and his wife have made daily trips to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for examinations and treatments.
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rArmed with his own strong faith, Dave has persevered. A father of four (Travis, 22; Greg, 19; Crissy, 10; and Katie, 8), he works as the manager of DeYoung’s Farm and Garden in Woodinville, WA as much as his energy allows. He also coaches his daughters’ basketball teams, as he did his sons’.
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rPrior to the Silvertips regular season home game on March 18th, the team presented Dave with a commemorative jersey. That night the team wore a set of the special jerseys that were then auctioned off following the game to help him with his medical expenses. Silvertips Assistant Captain, Cody Thoring presented him with a check, on behalf of his teammates, for $1,000.00.
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rThe special jerseys were the first time that the team has worn a commemorative jersey in the three year history and each jersey had Dave’s signature call âLet’s Play Hockeyâ? emblazoned on them. Immediately following the game each player autographed their jersey and they were auctioned off on the team’s website (www.everettsilvertips.com). The team also created special jerseys for their full time staff members and coaching staff that were auctioned off as well. The week long auction generated $38,042.47 for Dave. The average price of the jerseys went for $884.71 with 14 jerseys going for more than $1,000 including the Peter Mueller jersey which went for $4,388.88.
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râLike any other sports team, we believe that we have the best fans. The support that our fans have given Dave, Lisa and the rest of his family has been tremendous and overwhelming. As an organization when we sat down to discuss what we could do to help them in their time of need, we never imagined that we would be able to raise this much money is such a short period of time. It truly makes us speechless and we recognize that our fans are extremely special,â? stated Silvertips Director of Operations Zoran Rajcic.
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rFollowing the week long jersey auction the team also auctioned off 50+ items which were donated by fans who wanted to help Dave and his family. Items donated ranged from a 42â? plasma television, to a vacation retreat, to various sports memorabilia items. All told, the items donated by our fans helped us raise an additional $13,318.06
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rMembers of Dave’s church also help raise money by creating a special wrist band that was sold at Silvertips games during the month of March to help raise money to cover some of the medical costs. Through the bracelets they were able to raise $8,108.00 with many fans donating more than the asking price for the bracelets. Several members of the Silvertips team also purchased the wrist bans and wore them during the games.
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rFurthermore Seattle Junior Hockey donated the proceeds ($775.00) of their 50/50 raffle from the March 31st game. The Seattle Thunderbirds, with whom Dave worked with prior to joining the Silvertips, donated $2,341.00
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rOn behalf of the Piland Family and the entire organization the Silvertips would like to thank all of our fans who have given their support to help Dave beat his cancer.
