2 weeks Ago By Anne Delaney
In the last few weeks, the Windsor High School girls soccer program raised about $5,800 for a 2-year-old Greeley girl being treated for leukemia.The Windsor team raised $2,200 Tuesday evening for Winnlee Johnene and her family through t-shirt sales or donations during a match against Greeley West High School in Windsor. The girls program also gave the Johnene family a check for $3,500 collected from an NCAA basketball tournament pool.
Windsor coach Mike Lordemann said the high school school administration waived entry fees to the game and instead asked for donations to the Johnene family. Winnlee attended the game with several family members.“The support that the Windsor community and Greeley West soccer program showed, I was completely overwhelmed,” Lordemann said.
“To see people who care about others who aren’t necessarily their own...
prices are going up and for people to donate like they donated is quite remarkable.”Working with Lordemann’s family foundation to help families impacted by cancer, the Windsor girls program sold t-shirts for $20 to help offset the Johnene family’s medical costs.The foundation is called “Bee Happy.
Bee Kind,” and it started about three years ago in memory of James Rice, Lordemann’s father in law. Rice’s family founded Rice’s Lucky Clover Honey in Greeley in 1924. James Rice died of cancer at age 80 in 2021.
The t-shirts feature an artistic design of a girl with a soccer ball, surrounded by the name of the foundation: Bee Happy Bee Kind Foundation.Lordemann said the fundraiser came about, in part, because he wanted his players to understand the challenges and troubles others endure.“The girls have supported the foundation,” Lordemann said.
“This is the perfect opportunity to meet the girl (Winnlee) and to appreciate how great life is for them. I hope it makes an impact on them.”For more information on Winnlee Johnene and her disease, go to: www.
gofundme.com/f/stand-by-winnie-in-her-fight-with-leukemia.Lordemann said the foundation focuses its efforts on Northern Colorado residents.
A longtime coach and presence in soccer in the area, Lordemann said he heard about Johnene’s cancer through local soccer connections. Johnene is the niece of Northridge High School girls assistant coach Madison Flynn.“We try to do things to help out and to make life better for these families fighting cancer,” Lordemann said.
For more information on the Bee Happy Bee Kind Foundation, go online at www.beehappybeekind.org.
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