A Final Farewell… With Thanks to the Entire S2ki Community
This past Sunday, May 7th, a memorial service was held for Travis Hunt. Since so many members of S2ki all around the world have expressed their concern and so many have sent contributions for the family, we wanted to take this opportunity to give you some figures on amounts raised, and acknowledge all the sponsors and contributors who’ve been so generous with their time and donations. At the end of this article is a link to a thread with lots more information about the memorial service with tons of photos. We strongly encourage you to take time to peruse the thread and to add appropriate comments should you so desire.
The one thing this whole tragedy has brought home is the power of the S2ki community to rally together in times of need. There were 130 S2000s present at the memorial which is the largest gathering ever of S2000s on the west coast of the US. Over 200 S2ki peeps got out of bed at 4AM on a Sunday morning and were in attendance with thousands more around the world voicing their support. So far, nearly $12,000.00 has been raised for the Hunt family, and the total keeps increasing. We’d like now to thank some of the folks who made it possible:
All So Cal activities/fund raisers were coordinated by the area CO’s Back-cracker and webdiva. They put in countless hours and sleepless nights to insure everything was done perfectly. In addition to everything else Mike donated part of the grand prize, and he also made a contribution for every person in attendance Sunday (as did member A. Sayian); Samira provided the flowers and contributed several of the Raffle prizes.
Eibach was a huge help! Not only did they donate several prizes for the raffle, but they were incredibly gracious hosts for the memorial. In addition to the location, they provided food and drink, and cheerfully kept 500 Honda fanbois at bay when we ran beyond our allotted time. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ryan and everyone at Eibach for their generosity, kindness, and patience. Thanks guys!
Our other main prize contributors were: Vortech donated a $1000 gift certificate, Magnaflow gave a $500 certificate, Evasive Motorsports added a Mugen replica hood, Motorklasse contributed a set of 4.77 gears, and a set of spacers, Bridgestone tires gave a full set of OEM tires, Spugen provided 2 Heat shields and Aprk plug covers, Speed Ventures donated certificates for two free track days, Final Leval garage contributed a Megan Header and two sets of End links, Matt Piercey of Planet Acura also contributed to the grand prize and provided t-shirts and “Samer” Floor mats. Hockey automotive (HunterEZ) donated several maintenance services for winners, member S2x provided a BYS wing, I rotors.com contributed a complete brake kit (pads, rotors, stainless lines), Casper Photo contributed a free family photo shoot at the beach, Wlaurent and Kinetic, both gave subwoofer enclosures, Velocity Motoring added a free mount/balance for a set of tires, member rsaeini arranged for custom knit caps to be made and sold, i_heart_my_db8 designed a beautiful commemorative t-shirt, (a few still available, click here: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=16&t=385948 ) He also won several of the big prizes and has generously decided to sell most of them and donate all of the proceeds to the Hunts. (Check out the So Cal swap meet forum for the bargains)
We also received bighearted contributions from all over the S2ki international community, and would like to acknowledge two very organized efforts by local communities. Florida members fernies04s2k and zdave87 rallied their community together and raised $500, they also provided some very thoughtful letters that were read by SoCal member kyras at the service. Walkabt and the Arizona community rallied together and started separate college funds for each of Travis’ daughters.
Mike Nicoletti, lead guitarist of the rock band Underhanded, unplugged for the event and gave a beautiful rendition of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” with special lyrics for the day. Most in attendance joined in, all were deeply moved. Big thanks also to all the team leaders. (HunterEZ, dragonheart, RhinoS2k, Ron Blanford, rsaeini) The caravan to the memorial was a huge success. The nearly mile long line of S2000s was a fitting tribute.
S2ki founder Erik Petersen summed up the event thusly:
This community is built by the quality and kindness of its members. There can be no better evidence than today’s gathering to prove that. I’ve assigned Wendy and Travis’ account the distinct and unique honor of community Life Member because more than anything else that’s what Travis and Wendy have contributed to us; life.
It’s very rewarding for me to know that s2ki has made such a profound impact on so many people. It was great to see this event turn out to be just the sort of thing Travis would sign up for in a heartbeat. I can’t think of a better way to honor his memory than to do what he himself would have done, throw a party.
Warmest regards and best wishes to the Wendy and the Hunt family.
Here’s a link to lots more about the memorial including tons of photos:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=385310