Semper Fi Again

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What a wonderful story...Mr. & Mrs. West you raised some beautiful kids!
Next year I hope those that are chosen to be recognized will be surprised.


sheepish about sharing
American Canyon shows its gratitude with award tonight
By DAN JUDGE/Times-Herald staff writer
Article Launched: 04/14/2007 08:38:52 AM PDT


MEGAN WEST shows her two sheep at the Napa Town & Country Fair. On the left is Semper Fi. (Courtesy photo) AMERICAN CANYON - A teenager's donation of $22,000 to a fund that benefits American Canyon's aquatic center has made a big splash with city officials.
Sixteen-year-old Megan West will be cited by the city for her contribution at to-night's eighth annual Community Recognition Ball.

West, the daughter of Councilman Ed West, earned the cash last August by auctioning off a sheep named Semper Fi. She dedicated the proceeds from that auction to the Phillip West Memorial Fund, named for her brother, a Marine who was killed in Iraq.

"I wanted to help out his fund so it would help the rest of the community and his name could stay out there so people don't forget," West said Friday.

The Vintage High School student gave up the $1,000 to $1,700 she normally would have received for the sheep at the auction so the city could have $22,000, Parks and Community Services Director Randy Davis said.

"It's a pretty good chunk of change," he said. "Through her efforts, there is going to be some considerable money available for projects at the center."

After Lance Corporal Phillip West was killed in Fallujah, Iraq on Nov. 19, 2004, his family received about $2,000 in checks from people around the country, Ed West said.

"We just wanted to keep Phillip's memory alive so we formed a memorial fund," he said.
Even more donations began to pour in and the West Family decided to dedicate most of it to the community swimming pool where Phillip had worked as a lifeguard, swim instructor and swim team coach.

In 2005, the pool was re-named the Phillip West Aquatic Center.

The memorial fund has paid for an array of improvements at the pool, including a climbing rock, lifeguard training mannequins and an automated external defibrillator to help heart attack victims. The fund has also paid for the city's annual water carnival.

In the meantime, Phillip's sister Megan, a student at Vintage High School in Napa, was raising a sheep in the school's Future Farmers of America program that she named Semper Fi.

In August 2006 Semper Fi went to auction at the Napa Town & Country Fair and Megan announced all proceeds would go to her brother's memorial fund.

Bids started flying in fast and furious as an astonished Megan looked on. When the dust had settled, Rombauer Vineyards of St. Helena and Regusci Winery of Napa had bought Semper Fi for $22,000.

"Everybody just started going crazy," she said. "People started clapping so it kept going up. I didn't expect to get that much so I'm really thankful."

True to her word, Megan donated all of it to the memorial fund, which primarily benefits the aquatic center.

"We're really proud of Megan," her father said. "She decided on her own to donate the money from the auction and the generosity of the people who bought it was amazing."

Ed West added that the contribution will probably be enough to keep the water carnival running for several years as well as helping to provide other improvements at the pool.

He said Megan will probably do the same thing next year, donating the proceeds from one sheep to American Canyon Troop Support, which provides care packages for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Megan West is one of several winners of awards for community service that will be handed out at tonight's Annual Community Recognition ball.