Harvest is joining with the friends and family of Constable Sara Mae Burns to honour her memory and the lives of Constable Robb Costello, Donnie Robichaud and Bobbi Lee Wright in an effort to help local families in need.
There will be a song launch and special performance at 1:50PM on Sunday September 16th during the Harvest free concerts in Officer’s Square. All are welcome to attend and help celebrate this launch.
On August 18th, as part of the Regimental ceremony honouring the lives of Constables Burns and Costello, Pastor Steve Patterson of the Brunswick Street Baptist Church wrote and sang a song in memory of Constable Burns. The performance of the song “We’d Rather Have You” by Patterson and his two daughters was a stirring and memorable tribute and now Pastor Patterson and The Burns family are releasing this song as a single which will be sold online with all proceeds going toward local charities in our community. He will perform this song and officially launch the fundraising effort during Harvest’s annual Sunday free concert in Officer’s Square, Fredericton.
“Our family has been blown away by the amount of support from this great community…..I believe this is a way to give back to the community in Sara’s honor. All of the funds raise will go towards three areas which Sara felt passionate about; local charities, families in need and continued education”, said Steven Burns.
Harvest will also honour the four lives lost on August the 10th with a special commemorative shirt worn by all 1200 Harvest volunteers. The shirt will be navy blue in honour of the Fredericton Police Force and have the words #FrederictonStrong on the front of the shirt.
“When Steven Burns reached out to ask if they could launch this effort at Harvest, we were more than happy to help!” said Festival Chair Kerry Wells. “Harvest has always celebrated the best of Fredericton and so we knew we needed to ensure that we found a respectful way to commemorate the wound our community suffered and the healing process we’ve been going through since then. We’re honoured to be able help Steven launch this fundraising effort during Harvest and proud that all our volunteers will serve as reminders of the resilience of our community and the need to come together after a terrible tragedy like this”.
You can now pre-order the song “We’d Rather Have You ” which will officially be released on Sept 21st, 2018 OR make a donation by visiting the Fredericton Community Foundations website at https://www.fredfdn.ca/. Donations to the Sara Burns Police Memorial Fund will also be accepted on site after the performance in Officer’s Square on September 16th.
For more information, please contact
Brent Staeben, 471-3514
Pastor Steve Patterson, 474-2361