(L-R) Donna Snyder and Steve Wardrop of the Southampton Snowmobile Club presented two $500 cheques to Saugeen Memorial Hospital Board Director, Mary McCallum. The donation will go toward the purchase of patient monitoring equipment.

Hub Staff

Despite less than ideal snowmobiling conditions this past winter, the Southampton Snowmobile Club held their annual Brian Snyder Poker Run in February and on April 28 presented the Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation (SMHF) with a $1,000 donation.

Brian Snyder passed away in 2000 from a heart attack at only 43 years of age. He was an avid snowmobiler and a member of the Southampton club.

Since Snyder's passing the club has been honouring his memory through the Poker Run with proceeds going to the Hospital Foundation.

“We started this in 2001, the following winter,” said Brian's wife, Donna Snyder. “I think there was one or two years that we didn't have it because of the weather,” she said.

Club member Steve Wardrop said that the Southampton club is one of the larger clubs in the area.
"This year we sold about 320 permits, so for a little club we sell a lot,” he said, adding that the club maintains about 120 kilometers of trail from near Sauble, down to Tiverton and over to Tara. “We've got a nice big area to ride in," said Wardrop.

SMHF Board Director, Mary McCallum accepted the cheque on behalf of the Foundation with SMHF Executive Director, Sally Kidson thanking Donna Snyder and Steve Wardop of the Southampton Snowmobile Club for the donation. “We really appreciate that you do this. This is really special,” she said.

Kidson said the Club's donation will go to help the hospital purchase some of the $38,000 worth of patient monitoring equipment it will be acquiring this year.

To date, the Brian Snyder Poker Run has donated $27,860 to the Foundation, with the overall total donated from the Southampton Snowmobile Club at $30,152.