Former Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School graduate Kenny Lush returned to his hometown and helped pin down a $500 profit for the 2011 grad class on May 13.
A longtime professional wrestler, Kenny brought a group of grapplers to 100 Mile House and they put on a great show for the 130 enthusiastic supporters in the PSO gymnasium, says key organizer Jodi Thomson.
“It was a great group of guys. There are about 12 of them who come and help set it up, wrestle and clean up after the match is over.”
Beside the tickets sales, the organizers also made money from the concession, which was helped by Ruth and Barry Jewitt donating the chips and hotdog buns, and B.J.’s Donuts & Eatery which provided the hotdog and popcorn cookers.
The 50/50 draw went really well as there was a $170 split, and the man who won donated it back to the grad class, she says, adding the same thing happened at the grad fashion show when a grad mom won.
“When it was all said and done, the grad class walked away with $500 profit.”
Jodi notes the Lakewood Inn sponsored the wrestling crew’s rooms and Canadian 2 for 1 Pizza supplied pizza when they arrived.
All of the wrestlers came out after the match to mingle with the crowd, she says, adding they posed for pictures with the grads and the women grapplers signed autographs.
“Kenny [Lush] is such as great guy and he does everything. We’re going to recommend that next year’s grad committee bring him back again but not on such a busy weekend.”
Kenny’s mom Ardie Lush says her son just didn’t come to put on a show for the fundraiser, as he also spent some time in the community.
She notes he dropped in to Pro Fitness because he heard Evan Daniels goes to the gym every Friday.
So, when Kenny heard about this, he went over to the gym to see if he could hook up with the Canim Lake Band resident and have a little visit.
“Evan is really into anything that has to do with wrestling, so when Kenny visited him, he was very excited, and when they had their picture taken together, it really made his day apparently,” says Ardie.
“I thought it was really sweet for him to go out of his way to visit Evan.”
From there, Kenny went over to Cedar Crest to have a visit clients and staff.
Ardie says the wrestlers like to go to community events and make appearances at fundraisers or at special events.
The obviously proud mom notes that as far as she knows, Kenny is the only PSO student who graduated with a career prep certificate stating he wanted to be a professional wrestler.