A life cut short too soon, and a community truly showing up for those left behind. When Abe Neufeld, 39, went missing on January 31st near Tribune, search parties did not stop until he was found. Tragically, he had succumbed to the blizzard conditions. 

David Pattyson helped to organize a fundraiser in Oungre for the Neufeld family, held at the Oungre Memorial Regional Park. He said 150 people came out, which just shows how the spirit of Saskatchewan is still alive and strong. 

"What a wonderful community that we live in," he shared. "Right from the very onset of the response, in attempting to find Abe, we saw people from a number of different organizations, both professionals and volunteers, that took time out of their lives to marshall a response and help out at a time in need. Everything from, prior to his finding, everybody from RCMP officers from the local detachments in Weyburn and Estevan, RCMP search and rescue, dog services divisions, to the Southeast, Sask Search and Rescue, which is of course a local organization, the 737 fire Department, of which I'm a member, too. Just ordinary people that had a little bit of time one afternoon to brave some rather extreme weather and actually respond rapidly. It went onto a team of volunteers that decided to get together and put together a fundraiser."

He said the response to that fundraiser was well beyond whatever he or the team could have expected. 

"Everybody brought their own set of skills to the table. There were a lot of the younger, able bodied people that were engaged with the search for aid that expanded out to a much broader community."

Pattyson said Abe was, "quite a hard working fellow, quite skilled at the tractor restoration, which is what he was doing in his final hours, so just a younger fellow who was working hard in order to build a life for himself and his family."

"Many people drove a little bit further in order to help out the family, because it's kind of one of those things that, when a person's life ends when they're right in the middle of life, sometimes things are maybe not as prepared as people that have a little bit of warning."

Items were auctioned off during the fundraiser, with a tractor Abe himself had restored going for $5,000.

"Both individuals and the local business community over the last couple of years, the local businesses have had their own struggles to contend with, our economy has been so difficult and all the restrictions that have been faced, and it was really heartwarming to see the level of support that they gave to this fundraiser," he said. "So, for me, it's a really raised the importance of attempting to support local businesses because they're the ones that support the community when we need it." 

He said the Oungre Memorial Regional Park donated the use of the facilities.

"In fact, the manager was around for the entire event to help us out with anything that we would need to find in the facility. 

"The last thing you need when you're in a period of grieving is to have other financial pressures, and so this goes a long ways to removing the immediate financial needs as they make some longer term decisions on a go forward," he commented. "We've got a pretty good community here that tends to be pretty supportive of each other and you know, it does almost end up being like one big extended family." 

Anyone who would like to help out Susanna, Trudy and Benny Neufeld can make a contribution through the Radius Credit Union in Tribune. 

Pattyson said he'd like to thank the individuals who took part in that initial response. 

"Quite special individuals that take the time to, on short notice, drop what they're doing and come out to help. And, you know, I'm sure that those same individuals will be to other unfortunate events should they occur," he noted. "That is kind of the spirit of Saskatchewan. People tend to realize that we're all in this life together and whatever we can do to help each other through it."