Grand Champion hog brings in thousands for Venango County family
Earlier this year Scott Snyder was awarded a Heart of Gold scholarship from Oil City High School. At Friday's Venango County Round-Up livestock auction it became evident why.
Snyder, whose 11-year-old cousin Gabe Sobina was recently diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, donated the auction sale proceeds of his grand champion pig Friendly Frida to help with the Sobina family's expenses.
"I want them to be able to have something," Scott had told his mom, Jessica, Thursday when he decided that he would donate his swine auction proceeds. She reminded him college is coming up and maybe he might need the money. "I can always get a job for that," he told her.
After he made his intentions known to his family, he posted it on social media. "It was shared over 300 times," Scott said prior to the auction. Behind the scenes a group of community members were getting the word out and gathering donations. Jodi Baker-Lewis said when they made it up to $5,000 she said "we can go higher." Baker-Lewis said they kept networking all day and in the end had over $11,000 from 50 different donors. And they still expect more to come in after.
The winning bid made on behalf of the group of donors ended at $40 a pound, ten times higher than the typical price for a market swine. As the bids continued to rise the arena filled with applause and many tears began to fall.
"Thank you. You just can't say enough," Scott said as he struggled to find any words at all to say following the auctions outcome.
It was an emotional experience for Scott, who at one point just sat crying and petting Frida in the middle of the corral as the bidding soared. Earlier he learned his cousin received some bad news about his treatment. Originally Gabe was going to attend the auction, but it was a draining day on the family, Jessica said.
So Scott carried a picture of Gabe in his pocket.
Snyder, whose 11-year-old cousin Gabe Sobina was recently diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, donated the auction sale proceeds of his grand champion pig Friendly Frida to help with the Sobina family's expenses.
"I want them to be able to have something," Scott had told his mom, Jessica, Thursday when he decided that he would donate his swine auction proceeds. She reminded him college is coming up and maybe he might need the money. "I can always get a job for that," he told her.
After he made his intentions known to his family, he posted it on social media. "It was shared over 300 times," Scott said prior to the auction. Behind the scenes a group of community members were getting the word out and gathering donations. Jodi Baker-Lewis said when they made it up to $5,000 she said "we can go higher." Baker-Lewis said they kept networking all day and in the end had over $11,000 from 50 different donors. And they still expect more to come in after.
The winning bid made on behalf of the group of donors ended at $40 a pound, ten times higher than the typical price for a market swine. As the bids continued to rise the arena filled with applause and many tears began to fall.
"Thank you. You just can't say enough," Scott said as he struggled to find any words at all to say following the auctions outcome.
It was an emotional experience for Scott, who at one point just sat crying and petting Frida in the middle of the corral as the bidding soared. Earlier he learned his cousin received some bad news about his treatment. Originally Gabe was going to attend the auction, but it was a draining day on the family, Jessica said.
So Scott carried a picture of Gabe in his pocket.
"Our community is awesome," Jessica said after the auction. "They all rallied together. We're just speechless."
Scott also hoped to donate the pig to a local food pantry in order to help out even more people. The community group agreed, so around 150 pounds of meat will go to help the areas hungry. Jodi Lewis said people can continue to donate though the auction is over and they will see to it the money gets to Gabe. Anyone who would like to make a donation can call Scott's uncle Will Price at 814-673-2064.
Scott also hoped to donate the pig to a local food pantry in order to help out even more people. The community group agreed, so around 150 pounds of meat will go to help the areas hungry. Jodi Lewis said people can continue to donate though the auction is over and they will see to it the money gets to Gabe. Anyone who would like to make a donation can call Scott's uncle Will Price at 814-673-2064.
About Gabe
Three weeks ago Oil City student Gabe Sobina was suffering with headaches, nausea began also experiencing double vision. After a trip to the doctor they discovered he had a mass on his brain and ended up in Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh a few hours later.
The Sobinas stayed in Pittsburgh for nine days. Gabe was hooked up to tubes and machines and had an operation to get a biopsy. "It was pretty terrible to see (Gabe) going through this," Gabe's Dad, David said. They learned Gabe's cancer was a High Grade Gliomas, and aggressive inoperable cancer.
Gabe's treatment plan is to try to shrink the tumor through 33 bouts of radiation over the next six weeks likely to be followed by chemotherapy. Friday they learned that chemotherapy won't work on this aggressive cancer and are now looking at possible other treatments. Jessica said they were told this cancer is rare and it doesn't even have its own name yet or a treatment.
Three weeks ago Oil City student Gabe Sobina was suffering with headaches, nausea began also experiencing double vision. After a trip to the doctor they discovered he had a mass on his brain and ended up in Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh a few hours later.
The Sobinas stayed in Pittsburgh for nine days. Gabe was hooked up to tubes and machines and had an operation to get a biopsy. "It was pretty terrible to see (Gabe) going through this," Gabe's Dad, David said. They learned Gabe's cancer was a High Grade Gliomas, and aggressive inoperable cancer.
Gabe's treatment plan is to try to shrink the tumor through 33 bouts of radiation over the next six weeks likely to be followed by chemotherapy. Friday they learned that chemotherapy won't work on this aggressive cancer and are now looking at possible other treatments. Jessica said they were told this cancer is rare and it doesn't even have its own name yet or a treatment.
This was a follow-up to yesterday's story that you can find here.
http://richardsayerphotojournalism.weebly.com/eight--322/down-with-thanos
http://richardsayerphotojournalism.weebly.com/eight--322/down-with-thanos
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