Some off-duty police officers will be spending their weekends off pressure washing Langley driveways, patios and sidewalks to raise money for Erin Kreiter, a Langley woman whose career in science was interrupted when she was paralyzed by a neuromuscular disorder.
The volunteers include members of the Langley, Surrey, Burnaby and White Rock RCMP detachments as well as officers from the Vancouver and Delta municipal police departments.
“They’re from all over,” says retired Langley RCMP officer John Gould, whose company, Dominion Power Washing, is supplying the commercial-grade heated-water pressure washers for the “friends4erin” initiative.
For $150, Langley residents (and only Langley residents) can arrange to have the off-duty officers handle cleaning limited to outside surfaces.
There is no GST, and all of the money raised will go to help Erin and her family, Gould says, “every penny.”
Just over a year ago, after a sudden illness, the 28-year-old Kreiter was forced to give up working on cancer research at the University of Alberta.
She was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis, which left her a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair, unable to breathe unassisted and requiring 24 hour care.
Gould is a friend of Kreiter’s father, Langley RCMP Sgt. Tim Kreiter, who is currently on leave from his job with the serious crime section to look after his daughter.
The main floor of the Kreiter family home in Langley has been renovated to add a wheelchair-accessible bedroom and special bathroom, as well as wider hallways, doors and ramps, a bed lift and specialized bed.
Gould is also a cancer survivor, who was given three years to live after he was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer.
Thanks to a bone marrow transplant from a 20-year-old donor from East Germany, a grateful Gould is now in complete remission.
“I just want to pay it forward,” he says.
More information about friends4erin can be found online at http://www.dominionpowerwashing.com/friends4erin/ and cleanings can be booked on the website or by calling 604-510-9274.
Donations can also be made at the Murrayville TD Bank – Transit: 9190 Account 6320987.
Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted.
– with files from Monique Tamminga