Scotties Tournament of Hearts: Helping at telethon bittersweet for members of Schmirler rink

Most folks likely don't remember that in 1998 Roberto Benigni won the Oscar as best actor for his performance in Life Is Beautiful. They might not recall that Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve was one of the year's top songs.

Strangely, most Canadians probably do remember that was the year Sandra Schmirler and her rink from Saskatchewan won Canada a gold medal at the Nagano Winter Olympics.

Even Marcia Gudereit, the lead on that famous rink, is surprised how Schmirler's team remains etched in the country's memory.

"It's been 15 years," Gudereit said shaking her head. "That's a long time. There's been lots of curlers come up through the ranks.

"I think what happened to Sandra really hit home. She was a young mother with two small kids. That really touched everybody's hearts."

Besides Olympic gold Schmirler won three world championships. She died in 2000 at age 36 from cancer.

With that in mind it was rather bittersweet for Schmirler's old team of Gudereit, third Jan Betker and second Joan McCusker to celebrate the 15th anniversary of that Olympic championship by answering telephones Sunday during the annual telethon to raise money for the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.

Joined by other current and former curlers the telethon, held during the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, received a record $286,000 in donations. That exceeded the original goal of $275,000 that organizers had hoped for.

"The reason why we are doing it is a reason you don't want," said Betker. "So many people cared about Sandra and still do care about her. We know her legacy is living on and it's a wonderful cause."

McCusker understands Betker's feeling.

"We've had a lot of time to get used to the idea we lost Sandra," she said. "It was tragic. It took me a long time to get over that.

"Now that the Sandra Schmirler Foundation is established and so strong and doing such important work that would make Sandra really proud, I'm just delighted to be able to come back, work this telethon and watch curling."

Knowing where the money is going eases some of Betker's sorrow.

"It gives you a warm fuzzy feeling," she said.

Created in January 2001, The Sandra Schmirler Foundation is a registered charity that raises and donates money across Canada for the care of premature and critically ill infants. The foundation also helps develop future champions through direct funding to junior curlers.

Since its inception the foundation has donated over $2.2 million dollars to help purchase life-saving equipment in neonatal units in 27 hospitals.

This year the foundation announced it would give six $5,000 scholarship for junior curlers who are pursuing their competitive careers while maintaining their post-secondary studies.

Many of the people calling to give money also ask to talk to either Betker, McCusker or Gudereit.

"A lot of them want to shared their memories of Sandra," said McCusker. "They want to let us know how important Sandra was to them, what she stood for in their lives.

"Some of them have grand kids that ended up in a neonatal unit or children. They want to tell us how important this work is. Some of them just want to say they really liked us and miss us. It's all good. There's not one negative thing that has ever happened."

Other curlers taking donations included Lindsay Sparkes, who coached the Schmirler team; former Ontario skips Marilyn Bodogh and Alison Goring; Lorraine Lang, a member of Heather Houston's world championship team; and Cathy Overton-Clapham, who won Heart titles for Manitoba with both Jennifer Jones and Connie Laliberte. Jill Shumay's Saskatchewan rink that is competing at the Hearts also took a turn.

Betker said people admired Schmirler's skill as a curler and were captivated by her personality.

"I think people just remember Sandra and the person that she was," she said. "She was so down to earth and everybody could relate to her. That means so much to us that this legacy does live on."