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Weathersfield supports upcoming events to help baby, remember resident

By JEFF EPSTEIN
[email protected]
WEATHERSFIELD, Vt. — The community is stepping up to support two different families  holding events. One event is this weekend and the other will be in June.

This Sunday, April 28, the family and friends of 7-month-old Ellie Rosen will support her fight against cancer with a fundraising event at Martin Memorial Hall on Route 5 from 1-3 p.m. In January at the age of five months, the baby was diagnosed with a rare form of brain center. Since then, Ellie has “had a few surgeries already” and been treated with chemotherapy, said Lisa Slade, a family friend helping to stage the event.

In addition to a barbecue lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers, the event includes a raffle for donated goods, with tickets at $5 each, or five tickets for $20.

So many donations for raffle prizes were made that 19 items were set aside for a separate silent auction. Both the raffle and the silent auction are open now through Facebook, and will conclude at the Sunday event.

“People have been very, very generous,” said Slade.

All proceeds from the event will go directly to the Rosen family. Although the family has health insurance, they are also struggling with the many expenses of Ellie’s care, including bringing her to and from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where she is receiving treatment, Slade said.

The Rosen family resides in Lyn-donville, Vt., but Ellie’s father grew up in Weathersfield and Lyndonville, Vermont and her grandparents and aunt still reside in Weathersfield. 

“My mom was great friends with Ellie’s great-grandmother,” who also lived in Weathersfield. “I wanted to do something to help them,” said Slade.

Current details are on Slade’s Facebook page (Lisa Stillson Slade).

Meanwhile, the select board on April 15 approved an application for a memorial foot race. Ethan McNaughton filed the permit application for an adult 5K and children’s half-mile fun run, scheduled for the morning of Saturday June 29. The event is in memory of his wife, Laura Cody McNaughton of Perkinsville, who died as the result of a traffic accident on I-91 in Hartland on June 28, 2018.

The family established a scholarship in her name, administered by the development office of Springfield Medical Care Systems.

The course will begin and end near the intersection of Reservoir Road and Plains Road, with the course running about 1.5 miles each way on Plains Road. The road will remain open traffic, with the course marked off with cones, McNaughton said.

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