Dundas fundraiser a big success

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, real bad things to real good people. This summer we learned that our friend, Mark Dundas, was going to face a battle with leukemia. We were all as shocked as he was, since he’s one of the strongest, healthiest people we know. For all of his adult life, Mark chose career paths that supported outdoor recreation, and helping others enjoy the outdoors safely. He serves as an avalanche forecaster for the Flathead Avalanche Center providing all of the vital information that backcountry winter enthusiasts need to plan their days in the mountains. He has spent many years building and maintaining trails in Glacier National Park that have been enjoyed by millions of visitors over the course of his career there, and he served many winters on Whitefish Mountain Resort Ski Patrol helping skiers in need. Some of the skiers that he hauled off the mountain in a sled were his very own friends!

Now that Mark is in need, those same friends came together to assure that he gets all of the support he needs to face a particularly lousy, challenging year of his life. This year will be full of treatment, recovery and strength rebuilding.

We held a fundraising event on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Glacier Guides-Montana Raft in West Glacier which included a live auction, silent auction, raffles, live music and a pot luck. It was amazingly successful – exceeded our expectations. The success of this fundraiser was directly attributable to the generous nature of the greater Flathead Valley community. Everything was donated. We had no overhead costs going into the event so every dollar raised was direct support for Mark. Our local business community deserves a round of applause for their support. We’d like to recognize and thank local businesses for providing items to auction, or food and beverages for the attendees who numbered well over 300.

Our support for Mark will continue until he’s back on the trail with us, or back on his skis climbing up our mountains to dig those pits for avalanche analysis. If you didn’t get a chance to join our fundraiser, you can still donate to a great person in need by visiting Go Fund Me, and enter his name in the search field.

Thanks again, to a great community!

Biddy Simet

Support Mark, 2019 Team Coordinator.