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MERIDIAN SOURCE
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Gamers primed for Spectrefest
Photo submitted
Jason Vany, left, pictured a few years ago with his brothers Mike, centre, and Justin, was an avid gamer who died from complications of ulcerative colitis in 2018. Mike and Justin will continue to honour the memory of Jason and raise money for Crohn’s and Colitis Canada during the third annual 24-hour streamed gaming event dubbed Spectrefest on Oct. 21. GEOFF LEE STAFF WRITER
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When their dad brought home a Commodore 64 computer years ago for gaming, it set off a chain reaction for the Vany brothers with no end in sight. Mike and Justin Vany are using their tech skills to promote the third annual 24-hour gaming stream fundraiser, dubbed Spectrefest 2023 to raise funds for Crohn’s and Colitis Canada. The event will honour the memory of their other brother Jason who died from surgical complications of ulcerative colitis in 2018 and was well loved as an avid gamer. “That’s why we reached out to Crohn’s and Colitis Canada. We’ve been working with
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them over the last three years to raise money for them,” said Mike. “Over the past two years, we’ve raised almost $8,000 for that charity.” Mike thinks it would be amazing if they could raise $5,000 this year. Every penny raised goes to the Crohn’s and colitis non-profit that has set up an website at tinyurl.com/ specfest2023 with a link to donate. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are diseases that inflame the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and disrupt the body’s ability to digest food, absorb nutrition, and eliminate waste in a healthy manner. Spectrefest will kick off at 10 a.m, on Oct. 21 hosted by Mike at witch.
tv/tgonline in Lloyd and Cory Duchscer at Dukey03 in North Battleford for gamers anywhere. “Cory Duchscher a nd Ja so n w e r e be st friends,” explained Mike. “We all spent time together doing gaming.” Spectrefest is named after Jason’s online gamer tag. Not surprisingly, Jason majored in computer science when he moved to Lloydminster in 2000 to attend Lakeland College and he graduated with a job there in IT. Mike was inspired by Jason and followed suit by enroling at Lakeland in 2004 and he currently works at the Lloyd campus as an IT operations manager. CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
