Record-breaking Optimist Club Walk for Women’s Cancer
The Yamaska Valley Optimist Club broke a record Sunday in its seventeenth annual Walk for Women’s Cancer. The event raised $84,000 for the Bromemissisquoi-perkins Hospital Foundation. The previous record was close to $75,000, Louise Gelinas, the Optimist Club’s co-president, said Sunday.
That brings the total amount the club has raised for the foundation to about $859,000 in 17 years.
A generous anonymous donor gave the club an undisclosed amount of money to get to this year’s total.
“It was a surprise,” Gelinas said.
The walk drew about 400 participants, she said, which is more than usual. Other fundraisers have also seen increased participation, club co-president Johanne Coiteux said. The barn dance brought in more money as well.
The BMP Foundation uses the money to buy equipment for the prevention and treatment of women’s cancers. The money raised this year will finance a diagnostic screen system of mammary imaging used in breast surgeries and a pediatric coloscope for easier and safer examination of the colon, especially in small women, the Optimist Club stated in a press release in early September.
Two cancer survivors were named honorary co-presidents of the walk. Lucy Davis is an occupational therapist at BMP Hospital. Daniela Scherff was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2008. She credited early detection as the reason for her survival.
Scherff said Sunday that she has worked behind the scenes on previous walks. “I’m not an Optimist yet,” she said, “but my mother is.”
She gave much credit to the sponsors and the volunteers. She said businesses donated prizes, food, merchandise, and more. Residents donated their time.
“There were over 100 volunteers,” she said. Everything was sponsored, so every dollar raised goes to the BMP Foundation.