DAWSON CITY – Dawson residents from all parts of the community are pulling together to lend support to the Morin family following the sudden diagnosis of their son, 10-year-old Eric, with Stage 4B Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Immediately after the diagnosis, Eric was admitted to the Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, where he has already begun the first sessions of a 42-day treatment regime.

This process will take perhaps three or four months. During that time, the family intends to always have one parent and, where possible, one of his five sisters with him.

Travel from Dawson to Vancouver is expensive, and the community has begun to organize a number of events to assist in helping to cover some of those costs.

A coffee house held last Saturday at the Odd Fellows Hall raised $910 in support of the family.

Dave Morin, after already having spent several years in Dawson, was recently promoted to an RCMP sergeant and appointed head of the Dawson detachment.

This move was greeted enthusiastically by all segments of the community.

Morin has already served in several other rural postings, including Haines Junction and Faro/Ross River.

The money was deposited in a CIBC account called the Morin Fund for Eric, which is being administered on their behalf by Dawson resident Dick Van Nostrand.

The local bank account number to donate to this fund is #6354386. To deposit outside the Dawson branch, it is transit #00480.

Other communities have become involved.

Heather Granthan and Andrea Ross Kiehlbauch from Faro have established an online fund-raising site through www.youcaring.com (Arms Around the Morin Family) with a goal of raising $30,000.

As of Tuesday night, with only 19 hours left on the site’s two-day timeline, donations from the territory and across the country (the Morins are from the Maritimes) had totalled $37,125.

More than 362 people from all over the Yukon, across the nation and as far away as Florida and Africa made donations to this site.

Meetings were held in both Dawson and Haines Junction on Tuesday evening to co-ordinate events within their communities, with the two groups texting back and forth during the gatherings.

In Dawson, an every-other-day meal service was organized by Betty Davidson and Stephanie Cleland late last week, with the first meals being delivered last Sunday.

Cleland set up Internet tracking of the volunteers using a web forum called Mealtrain.com, and all the available dates for January, February and March have already been filled.

Cleland said people are still calling. She advises that some of the folks who have signed up for more that one day might want to let a day or two go so others who want to can assist.

She said people phoning were annoyed with her when they found all three months had filled up so quickly.

People can keep leaving their information with her so the service can be extended to April if it needs to be later on.

Mealtrain also allows the scheduling of such services as laundry, cleaning or childcare, but Cleland wants to consult with Natasha Morin, the ailing boy’s mother, before adding any extra items to the database.

Tuesday evening’s organizing meeting held at the Downtown Hotel saw a dozen people present to share ideas and avoid overlapping events.

Saskia Robbins had begun to organize a silent auction and music night at the Odd Fellows Hall.

Angie Joseph-Rear brought word that the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in are planning a community dinner for the same night.

Now, the two events have been combined into one, scheduled to occur at the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Community Hall on Jan. 24.

Sue Herrmann of Dawson City Hardware will provide the fixings for a spaghetti dinner. A committee has been struck to organize the various parts of this event.

The Dawson City Minor Hockey Association in planning a skate-athon for this Saturday, with all the proceeds going to the fund.

Robert Service School is planning a volleyball marathon as a fund-raiser, and Eric’s Grade 5 class is organizing a grilled cheese sandwich sale.

The Timberwolves hockey team is selling hoodie sweaters and donating the money to the fund.

Air North has already begun to work on assisting the Morins.

As well, a number of Air North shareholders have proposed the idea of donating their points and shareholder flights to the family.

The Dawson group has set a target of $25,000 for the community’s efforts (to begin with) and will track contributions locally on a fund-raising thermometer at the General Store.