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Jacob, Sarah and Milo Warren presented a $700 check to the New Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Jan. 7 during their regular meeting.
The funds were raised from the sixth annual Team Boyd fundraiser. Team Boyd was started as a memorial to Boyd Xavier Warren, Jacob and Sarah's child who died just a few hours after birth on Dec. 21, 2013.
The first three years, the Warrens' family and friends gathered for an annual run/walk to remember Boyd, sporting Team Boyd shirts. Family and friends encouraged them to continue with the remembrance shirts, so Jacob and Sarah decided to use the opportunity as a fundraiser for Team Boyd to benefit a local charity or organization.
"We really connected with the way Boyd's memory would actually live on in our community. Both from seeing family and friends wearing his name, to also seeing him live on in our community through donations to local organizations and projects like the school playground and the scoreboard. He touched both of those places," says Sarah. In 2017, Team Boyd donated to the NR-S School Playground project, and last year's proceeds benefited the scoreboard project.
Transcript Publishing has been the exclusive vendor for the Team Boyd apparel for the past three years, and are proud to be a key community partner for the project.
This year, the New Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce received the donation. Sarah, a local photographer and business owner, says the Chamber was a great choice given all they do for the community, kids and local businesses.
Sarah wrote the following on her Facebook page on Boyd's birthday in 2018: "Boyd's life was brief but beautiful and continues on in so many ways. The pain is always great, but... the joy and support from family, friends and a community is what helps us to heal. When we are at the grocery store and see a Team Boyd shirt, when someone accidentally calls Milo by his brother's name, the messages, memorials and kind words, they are him speaking to our heart through you."
The New Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce expresses its appreciation to the Warren family for the donation. The board decided at the Jan. 7 meeting that the money will be used for the 2020 Santa Day carnival, a way of honoring a little boy born so close to Christmas who would likely have attended every year.