In April 2006, 31 members of the Timbers Army went to England, having been invited by a Sunderland SAFC supporter, Gary Lamb, who had been impressed with the hospitality given to him and other Sunderland fans when they came to Portland to see their team play an exhibition game against the Portland Timbers, an entertaining 0-0 match in front of over 15,000 fans at Portland's PGE Park.
There was one notable absence on that day in July, 2005 at PGE Park, as Timbers legend Timber Jim was out of town, having committed to attending a wedding that day. His absence was felt that day, and Gary left a message to Timber Jim on the mural behind The Bullpen, a pub on Taylor Street just a few doors down from the stadium.
Gary had also learned the story of Timber Jim's tragic loss of his daughter Hannah, who died in an automobile accident in August, 2004. Jim was at a Timbers match vs. Minnesota that day when he found out, and the pain of that loss is still felt within the Timbers community to this day. The Timbers Army helped set up a fund for Hannah's daughter Keiana, and had held various fund raising activities for the fund as well.
Though Gary has still not met Timber Jim in person, he made it a point to make helping the Keiana Serrill Trust Fund a major part of the visit of the 31 Timbers fans to Sunderland, though none of us were aware of it at the time.
On the third evening that we were there, we were invited to a special evening at a pub just down the road from our hotel in Seaham. Around the walls of the room were pictures of Timber Jim, so we knew this was going to be a very special event indeed. Gary talked about Timber Jim and the loss of his daughter so that the Sunderland supporters who were not aware of the reason for the events of the evening would learn about how special a person he is, and about how much his loss has been felt in the Portland soccer community.
As an aside to how legendary Timber Jim is, I will pass along a short story that I did not relay at the time, but should have. Jim was notified of his daughter's accident during a game vs. the Minnesota Thunder at PGE Park, a game which the Timbers won 3-0. Just over a week later, the Timbers played a game at Minnesota. I have friends within the Minnesota organization, having been a ticket holder there for four years in the mid 90's an having helped them with contributions to their website. I received an e-mail from someone in their organization asking me if I thought there would be any objections to having a moment of silence for Timber Jim's daughter at that game as well, 2,000 miles from Portland. I felt that would be a touching gesture on their part, and they did. This is just a small indication of how not only our team feels about Timber Jim, but that he also touches other places in the league as well.
But back to that night in Seaham, and there was not a dry eye among the Timbers supporters as Gary told the story of the loss of Hannah Serrill, and then Gary announced to us all that all of the proceeds from tonight's events, including a raffle and auction, would be going to the Keiana Serrill Trust Fund. Tears turned to open weeping through smiles as we all applauded, on an evening which had just become all the more special to us.
On top of that, Gary also announced that another gathering that had been arranged for us, a dinner for us hosted by Sunderland legend Bobby Kerr, captain of the 1973 Sunderland FA Cup winning team, would also be benefitting the fund for Keiana.
Gary Lamb announces to the crowd that the proceeds of the charity events will benefit the Keiana Serrill Trust Fund
Click here to see a short video of Gary Lamb talking about Timber Jim (5.5 MB, 1:26)
In addition, a representative from ASDA, which is the UK division of Wal-Mart, spoke to us about how his group has given donations to charities before, but was surprised when he was asked to make a donation for an American. But when he learned the story, he was as touched as the rest of us were, and in addition to donations he made for the raffle to be held that night, he also donated a large bag of toys for Keiana.
A raffle was held, as well as the auction of signed Timbers and Sunderland jerseys, with each going for 107 pounds (a significant amount, with section 107 being where the Timbers Army sits at PGE Park), and there was also a pool tournament with the entry fees going towards the trust fund.
The main event of the evening, however, was a log cutting contest called the "Timber Jim Challenge" that Gary asked be held every year on the final Saturday before the opening of the season (which is what this day was, with our season set to open the following Saturday in Vancouver). Two logs were set up (more like posts actually, about 4 inches thick) and the goal was to saw through the log as quick as possible, then run across the room an deposit the log slice into Preston Burpo's goal. Preston is a long-time nemesis of the Timbers, having until recently minded the nets for our rival Seattle Sounders, and a small cut-out of Preston guarded the small goal at the other end of the room, and provided little opposition to the barrage of log slices which would bombard his goal on the night.
The "Timber Jim Challenge" log cutting trophy
Over the next hour or so, a few dozen Timbers and Sunderland supporters took a shot at the log, some doing so up to three times each, and when the sawdust settled, it was a Timbers Army member, known on the Timbers message board as "Steeplechase3K" who held the trophy high, sawing the log and depositing in the goal in just under seven seconds. Gary mentioned how appropriate it was that it was a Timbers Army member who took the title, and we have promised to carry on the tradition in Portland for years to come, each time for the benefit of the Keiana Serrill fund. On that first evening, a total of 485 pounds (about $800) was raised. Several of us talked about how we hoped the following evening would take us over 1000 pounds total.
The following evening, we all climbed into two minibusses and took the short ride to Bobby Kerr's pub. A large group of Sunderland supporters from around the UK had gathered, and a few other Sunderland legends joined us as well, as Gary Bennett and Paul Atkinson also joined us for the evening. Some great curry was served, we made great friends with even more Sunderland fans, and of course, another raffle and auction was held to benefit the Keiana Serrill Trust Fund. And as a result of the raffle and auction, another 487 pounds had been raised, bringing the total for the two evenings to 972 pounds.
Bobby Kerr, Gary Bennett, and Paul Atkinson
Sunderland fan Eddie McGee shows off his Timber Jim scarf
Bobby Kerr donates a signed 1973 FA Cup photo the Timbers Army
But that's when the magic really started to happen on this beautiful, chilly Sunday evening. In addition to the money raised by the auction and raffle, Gary announced that 100 pounds each had been collected and donated by the Billingham and Seaham Branches of the Sunderland Supporters, bringing the total to 687 for that evening alone.
Then, as he totaled up the new sum, the Jarra Branch announced they had gathered another 100 pounds. Then, the five members present of the Hetton Branch announced they had put together 70 pounds for Keiana's fund. Then only a few minutes later, the Northern Ireland Branch, with only four members there, who had come all the way over for the dinner and for the match the next day vs. Newcastle, announced they had another 50 pounds to add.
Gary Lamb presents the cash proceeds from the evening to Drumman
When everything was counted up, a total of 1,494 pounds was raised on the two nights, meaning that there was over 1000 pounds raised on that evening alone, and over 500 pounds of that came after Gary had announced the "grand total", all of that extra money coming from the individual contributions of the various regional Sunderland supporters, people who had never met Timber Jim and probably never will, had dug so deep to benefit the fund for Keiana. I think that all of the Timbers supporters felt completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity for Timber Jim and for Keiana, and we then had the task of keeping this all quiet for two weeks until we could present the money to Timber Jim at the Timbers home opener on May 5, which I am proud to say we were able to do.
On that night, the Timbers Army supporters who had made the trip gathered beside the pitch during halftime, Timber Jim being completely unaware of what was going on. We had worried that somehow the subtle clues that had floated around the SoccerCityUSA.com message board, which we know Timber Jim visits, had given something away. But as it turned out, the secret had been well protected, as Jim joined the Timbers Army members who had made the trip on the pitch at the end of halftime.
Finnegan gave a short speech on behalf of all of us to let Timber Jim know about the events in the UK that had resulted in such a large and generous donation to his granddaughter's fund, and presented him with a large $2000 check, which had been deposited in Keiana's fund that morning. As it turns out, the $2000 is not quite all that will be contributed, as there will be a few hundred dollars more added once some checks that were brought from the UK clear. But Timber Jim was clearly overwhelmed by what had happened, and once we all moved to the sideline so the second half could start, Jim could no longer control his emotions and broke out in tears, burying his face into the shoulders of several of the supporters who were having trouble controlling their own tears, once again.
The Timbers Army make the presentation of the donation to the Keiana Serrill Trust Fund at the first Timbers home game on May 5, 2006
Click here to see the presentation to Timber Jim of the donation to the Keiana Serrill Trust Fund (14.7 MB, 3:49)
Click here to see the same presentation as above, with commentary from Finnegan, who made the presentation (14.7 MB, 3:49)
At the end of the match, I pulled Timber Jim aside and presented him with a DVD that documented the events in the UK that had led up to the large donation that had been presented to Keiana's fund that night, and asked if he would watch this on the following day, and perhaps allow me to record a few comments from him the following night, where we had another home match. Jim said that he would do so, and indeed he did after the match on Saturday, which incidentally was a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Thunder. Since the Timbers victory over the Thunder on August 5, 2004, the day Hannah died, every single Timbers/Thunder match (six in all) had resulted in a draw. It is somehow a fitting moment then that the Timbers come full circle in honor of Hannah by putting a victory onto the board on this night.
The next day, Timber Jim and Keiana give a thank you to the Sunderland and Timbers supporters
Click here to see a Thank You from Timber Jim (2.4 MB, 0:37)
There is obviously alot more video from the UK that is not being presented here because of the amount of disk space needed to host what is over 40 minutes of video, but that video has already been compiled into a DVD format, which so far has only been presented to Timber Jim himself. The video of the presentation to Timber Jim, as well as Timber Jim's recorded thank you, will be added to the video, and if possible, that video will be loaded on this site or at soccercityusa.com in .wmv format. In addition, a DVD-data and DVD-video version of the video and photos from the trip will be given to the Timbers and Sunderland supporters in attendance, as well as to any others who request a copy as time and materials allow. Direct any inquiries as to the availability of the video to trip2006@soccercityusa.com.
There will be no charge for making copies of the Timber Jim video, but if anybody wants to make a donation, they will be donated in full to the Keiana Serrill Trust Fund.
(All photos and video by Allison Andrews, except the Timber Jim "Thank You" photo, and audio of Finnegan commentary, by SoccerCityUSA.com board member Steeplechase3K) All video files are in Windows Media Player format.
