Dad unable to work due to spinal injuries

Colton and Ethan have the best nicknames around. “They’re Double and Trouble,” dad Mathew says.

Like most brothers, they have their good days and bad. Both of those can centre around playing games together. However, at the end of the day, “the two of them are thick and thin,” Mathew says. “They’re inseparable.”

Their dad chokes up a little when he talks about them, and the help they’ve received from the

Central Okanagan Community Food Bank.

Mathew’s family is one you can help this year by supporting the Be an Angel campaign. Donations stay in the Valley and will help the food bank distribute nearly 2,000 Christmas hampers to families in need.

Mathew says without the food bank, he isn’t sure where he’d turn.

“It means a lot that we can enjoy a meal together and that there will be something under the tree Christmas morning. I don’t know what we would do otherwise.”

While walking his boys to school three years ago, Mathew was hit by a pickup truck. He had just enough time to throw Ethan from harm’s way.

They were in a crosswalk, and he was teaching Ethan about road safety when it happened.

The spinal injuries haunt him to this day, and he’s been unable to work since. He tried to keep working for about six months after that, but the pain was too much and he had to quit his job as a warehouse shipper/receiver.

The food bank was there to help.

“It means that my kids can have lunches every day,” he says. “It means the world.”

You can Be an Angel by donating at The Daily Courier, online at kelownadailycourier.ca, by calling 250-470-0756 or by visiting any Valley First Credit Union branch.