Community comes together to support Dockstader family

Rebecca Via works on Rylan's haircut at Saturday's fundraiser benefit for Tricia Dockstader.
Over the weekend, crowds of people made their way down to Linz Style Station for hair, nails, pedicures, massages, piercings, and even botox from the amazing team of local professionals who had gathered to donate their time and expertise to raise funds for friend and fellow stylist Tricia Dockstader. According to Monica Rosen, the total amount of funds raised over the day was $26,816 with additional funds still being raised. Rosen, who helped coordinate the silent auction and raffle components of the fundraiser stated, “I’m always nervous going into a fundraising event: what if we don’t get a good turn out? But this community exceeds my expectations every time.”
Tricia is the owner of Linz Style Station in Soda Springs. On Wednesday, September 11, she and her husband Darrin Dockstader were involved in an accident outside of Thatcher on Highway 34 when a pickup truck driven by an 82 year old man failed to yield to the couple’s motorcycle. Darrin was tragically killed as a result, and Tricia was life-flighted from the scene. Since then, she has been undergoing an intense recovery process. If there is a bright side to the situation, it would have to be the enormous outpouring of love and support from a community shaken by the event, and looking to do anything they can to support the family.
According to organizer Samantha Daniels, “It started with Codi Stephens and I just talking about ‘how can we in the hair industry help Tricia out?’ So we thought how about donating a day of services to help her financially through this hard time originally just to pick a day, we would donate everything we made from our salon to her.”
The idea started as something fairly modest, but as it started to grow it turned into something much bigger. “We then started talking to other people and I got a few phone calls coming in asking what they can do to help her out and if they can donate items or money. There have been people coming into the salon every week donating money for Tricia’s family. We then had other stylists that wanted to get involved and we thought how fun would it be if we did a day of services all together in her salon for Tricia.”
It turned out that people wanted other ways to donate as well. Daniels continued. “We had people with other services to offer that wanted to be involved and then people wanted to donate their items. So we decided we can set up a small auction. We ended up getting more and more people wanting to donate and thankfully Monica Rosen has had a lot of experience with raffles and fundraising. She offered to jump in and take over that part so we could focus on the services. We received an amazing amount of items to go towards this day. It ended up being a lot bigger than we had even imagined, so we ended up having to move auction items down to the mason hall but it ended up being wonderful!”
The Masonic Temple just down the same block was converted into a makeshift fundraising headquarters as Monica Rosen and her team of volunteers monitored the online auctions, sold raffle tickets and other items, and managed the charitable chaos of the afternoon. Donations for the auction and raffle lots came from all over the area. Rosen stated that while there was no official list of donors due to the sheer number and interest in donating, it was safe to say that “We had donations from people and businesses all over the community and even Pocatello and other places that read the story on FB or in the paper.”
Samantha Daniels reiterated the scope of the support. “We had so much support from the entire community. It was really neat to be behind the scenes and see all the generous donations coming in. Not only just from that day but also my client runs MR &E garbage services and she donated free services for a year at the salon and her home. There is so much kindness out there, and I love our small community for coming together like this,” she said.
In evaluating how the day had gone, Daniels characterized it as “amazing.” She admitted that she was not sure what to expect at first. “I figured it would be steady but it was insanely busy and everyone was so patient and kind—it was the best atmosphere. Everybody in the salon seemed to be having a great time. Even if they were waiting a long time, they did not seem to care knowing the day was for a great cause. We had refreshments and mimosas in the salon and baked goods down with the raffle. I feel like we just had a great time. Tricia even made it down and was able to catch up with so many people. Everyone was super excited to see her.”
Ultimately, the small day of services turned into a morning to night full day of nonstop appointments, with people gladly waiting in line for the chance to do their part to help out and get amazing professional services.
Those on hand included the following, as well as others off and on during the day. Tricia’s sister Whitney Offret, for instance, “jumped in to do a couple haircuts” during the busy afternoon, in between taking Tricia to the Girls Basketball game and back to the salon to see the commotion.
Nail Techs Penny Thompson of Alaula Tan & Nails, Whitney Newman of Linz Style Station, Krista Peterson, Amanda Peterson.
Hair Stylists Samantha Daniels of Linz Style Station, Codi Stephens, Kim Neese of Linz Style Station, Rebecca Via, formerly of Linz Style Station now living in Pocatello and working at Candys, and Karly Mangis of Hair Nation.
Botox services were provided by Kebra Holston and Shyanne Dominguez of Linz Style Station.
Spray Tans were done by Tiffany Jenkins. Massages were provided by Emily Welker and Angelina Stringham. Piercings were from Kirstie Mullen of Alaula Tan & Nails. Facial Waxing was by Bailey Transtrum.
Reception and food table support came from Kathrine Moore, Chelsea Merrill, and Megan Harris.
Taylor was at the location with Ranch Queen Loaded Fries all day as well as Soda Sip, and donated proceeds that day.
The Raffle and flyers and keeping up with Facebook and advertising was credited to Monica Rosen and Angel Butler.
Erv and Kim Christensen let the group use the masonic hall for the auction and raffle items.
Homemade baked goods made by Dawn Beeton, Hailey Butler , Megan Harris, Dee McCullough, Selena Foley, Carolyn & Ken Shreve, Sandy Fugate, Brittanee and Diane Daniels, Karly Premo.
Hailey and Dawn also helped with food and auction items.
After the event, Samantha Daniels stated that “It was absolutely amazing to see the community come together for their family. I had people that did not know Tricia or her family but saw it was for a great cause and wanted to come in and donate. I had one client that told me he is here with his girlfriend and they are thinking about moving here permanently. He said this fundraiser was amazing to see how people can come together in a small community, you don’t see this everywhere. It’s a great place to raise children. So hearing people say things like that that aren’t even from around here is very touching. We have the best community!” Those sentiments were echoed by many of the people who helped with and attended the event.
Fellow organizer Codi Stephens said “I just want to mention how overwhelming it is to have a community that will come together for someone like they did for Trish. I want to thank the outpouring of people donating their money, time and talents for raffles and auction stuff. And I want to mention how incredible it is to have so many people in our industry that share the passion to give and work together in such a positive way, and that we have a great friendships and love for each other and our community. We want Trish and her family to feel our love and support ongoing through her recovery. We feel very grateful to have the opportunity to help her in her time of need.”
Monica Rosen noted that she “enjoyed hearing stories from people about how they know Tricia or why they wanted to support. I had one of her childhood neighbors call me, and a man who read the story in the paper and also had a foot amputated and wanted to offer support.” Support came in all kinds of forms, including the many volunteers that set up tables, booked appointments, and helped the event in countless ways. “Every little bit helps! Whether it’s a dollar, a share on FB, a kind note of encouragement. It takes a village and I believe we have the best one,” Rosen said.
With the fundraising day itself over, Samantha Daniels looked forward to the next months for her friend Tricia. “She will be out of work for a while,” Daniels said. “We are excited to help her financially to help keep her salon open and help her pay for bills while she is on leave. As a cosmetologist, we don’t get paid time off. She has worked so hard for her successful salon and it is her baby. We just want to keep it going strong for her so when she comes back, she can jump right back in without any stress. She is an amazing person to work for and to work with she is positive and a very strong woman. Her whole family is wonderful and they deserve this financial relief.”
“An event like this says everything about our community and the people that live here,” Daniels continued. “The amount of time, planning and donations turned out shows how people are willing to come together for someone who is so loved by the community and tries to always give back. Tricia is an amazing & giving person. When something like this happens you want such a good person to know that we are all here for you and will do everything we can to get you back on your feet and still loving life. Moving forward we hope the amount we raised will be able to ease the financial burden slightly so she can focus on healing physically and mentally and find her love for life again. We would love people to know Darrin and Tricia’s story and never forget his legacy. To look at the smiles on her face constantly and her ability to keep pushing on and trying to find the good in an experience like this. It says everything about their story and lives that she is able to be so positive right now.”
As a final report, Monica Rosen broke down the funds raised as $3,110 from auction items, $16,295 from the raffle, and $7,411from the salon. The amount of goodwill and support was truly amazing, but the road ahead will be long. Those interested in contributing past the day of the event can Venmo @Tricia_Dockstader.