Dayton Gems Players Make Christmas Wish Come True

December 16, 2010 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Dayton Gems News Release


BEAVERCREEK, OH - When Karen Blair of Beavercreek answered her door on Wednesday evening, December 15, she expected to receive flowers from her husband John, who is stationed in Iraq.

Not only did she receive flowers, she received much more.

Three Dayton Gems players - Greg Labenski, Ernie Stewart and Paul Ferraro - delivered flowers, presents, food and a Christmas tree to Karen and her 3-year-old daughter Ava.

In addition to delivering the items, the players also decorated the tree with a little help from Ava.

The Blairs received the items after being selected as the winners of the "Win a Gems Christmas." The Blairs were nominated by Teresa Woodhouse, Karen's mother in law. In an e-mail to the Dayton Gems, Woodhouse explained the recent hardship the family has experienced.

John, Karen and Ava moved to Beavercreek from Fort Hood, Texas after John was relocated by the military. Shortly after the family spent most of their savings to move, John was deployed to Iraq.

Since his departure three months ago, Karen has faced several challenges. The 20-year-old struggled to find a job and was unemployed until last week. She also wrecked and totaled her car and had to buy a new one. In addition to all those events, Karen also just recently discovered that she has cancer. Although she has already had one surgery to cleanse her jaw line of the cancer she needs to have an additional surgery. It has been a struggle for her to receive the medical attention that she needs due to her financial situation.

Despite all that has happened to Karen she still finds ways to provide for Ava. She does without many things, including eating a little less at times, so that Ava can eat and stay healthy.

It's no surprise that Karen had no idea how she was going to buy gifts for Ava this Christmas. With Karen struggling to buy groceries each week, there was virtually no room in her budget to buy gifts for Ava this Christmas.

After reading the e-mail from Woodhouse, the Dayton Gems selected Karen and Ava as the winners of the contest and began collecting items from local businesses to make the Christmas season more festive for the family.

Gordon Food Services in Trotwood donated a generous amount of food, including a turkey, Gems' partner Furst Florist donated a bouquet of roses, Siebenthaler's donated the Christmas tree, and the Gems staff bought the gifts.

"Working in professional sports gives us opportunities like this, and I want to thank our front office staff for not only creating this idea, but following through with it and making it such a special event for the Blair family. We hope to make this an annual tradition," said Gems President Joe Greene.

The Kettering Medical Center is proud to be the official title sponsor of the Gems for the 2010-11 season.



Central Hockey League Stories from December 16, 2010


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