Tyanna Weeks

Planet Pizza and Bishop Ryan Catholic School with the Knights of Columbus Council will be hosting benefits for Tyanna Weeks and family. Weeks, 18, a senior at Bishop Ryan, was in a serious head-on collision in late January.

A GoFundMe account was set up by the family and has been receiving donations to help with the medical expenses, but the Bishop Ryan community and Minot community as a whole wanted to do more.

The first benefit will be held Friday, March 22, from 4-10 p.m., with a silent auction from 5-8 p.m., at Planet Pizza.

Planet Pizza owner Matt Mueller whose family is a part of the Bishop Ryan community, knew he wanted to do something more to help the Weeks family.

“My family is a participant at Bishop Ryan,” said Mueller “My daughter is in second grade and we had heard about the accident from the student email as well as Tyanna’s good friend, who babysits for us. We got a first-hand story from her and found out her family was looking for a site for a silent auction.”

Mueller’s daughter may only be in second grade but he said it will be a blink of an eye before she can drive.

“The story hit close to home, having a daughter myself. I can’t imagine what that must be like,” he said. “It is a good cause and we have the space and ability to help, and being a part of the Bishop Ryan community we wanted to support the Weeks family and Tyanna however we could.”

The second of the two benefits will happen only two days later on Sunday, March 24, at the Bishop Ryan Catholic School dining room from 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

“The Knights of Columbus Council #9906 at St. Leo’s has always been dedicated to giving back to the community and has done so for years, funding our donations through our monthly breakfasts,” said Bishop Ryan track and cross-country Coach Brian Rodgers.

“After this accident, the chaplain at Bishop Ryan, Father (Jacob) Degele, approached the council and asked if we would be willing to have Tyanna and her family be the beneficiaries of one of our upcoming breakfasts. Since Tyanna and her family are members of St Leo’s, the group decided quickly that this was a worthy endeavor,” Rodgers said.

Anxious to not only host a successful and large benefit for the Weeks family it became quickly apparent that the basement of St. Leo’s would not be big enough to host a benefit of this size.

“One of our members suggested that we look to move the event to the school to serve the anticipated numbers, “ Rodgers said. “Father (Jadyn) Nelson and the rest of the Bishop Ryan community were gracious enough to allow us to use their facility and the planning began in earnest.

“All this shows that people of the entire community, not just the school or a single parish family, can come together in times of need to give and work for a common purpose. This simple move allows us to serve so many more people to better serve Tyanna and her family,” he said.