KIRKLAND – When Montrealer Cyrus Senior, 19, received a partial scholarship to play baseball at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., his family was over the moon.
“From the time he was a little boy he’s had a ball in his hand, so we’ve just been following his dream,” said Gillian Robin Bentley, Cyrus’ mother.
But his tuition is still costing a pretty penny.
“We sat down, did the budget and we said “OK, we can do this,'” Robin Bentley told Global News.
The family pulled all their resources together, and for a while it worked – until the Canadian dollar took a dive.
Cyrus’ busy study and baseball schedule won’t allow him to work.
The plunging loonie and dramatic exchange rate is hurting the family financially.
“We weren’t expecting it,” Senior told Global News via Skype.
“People want to see me succeed. I’ve been getting calls and love and messages from friends, from teachers at John Rennie [High School].”
Senior, who is studying business management, created a Go Fund Me campaign in the hopes of raising $20,000 to help his parents pay his tuition.
“My parents have graciously been doing everything they can for me to achieve my goals,” Senior wrote on the page.
“However, with the continuing devaluing of our Canadian dollar versus the American dollar, it has now become almost 50 per cent more than they originally anticipated.”
So far, the Senior family has raised $1,310.