Friends of Tom and Jeannie Werner have organized a softball tournament, raffle and concession stand as a fundraiser for the couple’s two grandchildren, Caroline and Luciano Navarro.
The children’s parents, Jennifer Werner and Jesse Navarro, were killed this month in a vehicle accident in Lincoln County, Nev., while they were on vacation, according to one of the fundraiser organizers, Sandy Brown.
After they are released from a Nevada hospital, both children will come to Emporia to live with the Werners. Caroline is 2 1/2, and Luciano is 1.
Brown said the co-ed softball tournament will be held at Hartford ball fields Sept. 12 and 13. The cost will be $150 per team, and all proceeds from the event will be donated to a fund for the children that has been set up at the Lyon County State Bank. Collection cans also have been set up at gas stations in the area, Brown said.
Drawings will be held for a variety of prizes — a night at a hotel, massage, haircuts, muffler, free oil changes. Brown said that suggested donations for the raffle are $5 for six tickets and $1 for a single ticket.
Baked goods, Fanestil hot dogs and other items will be sold at the fields. T-shirts also will be available at a cot of $10 each.
The tournament winners will receive championship shirts.
Money raised by the event will be used to help pay funeral expenses for the children’s parents and other related costs.
For more information, or to register a softball team, call Matt Brown, (785) 447-2793.