Pedal for Hope tops $50,000 goal for virtual tour
The Canadian Cancer Society’s 16th annual Pedal For Hope campaign came to a close on Friday.
While the event was virtual this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the original goal of $50,000 was exceeded, according to Alison Payne, local Canadian Cancer Society senior manager. The campaign normally brings in about $400,000 locally, she said.
Although schools were closed, she said, some schools and students still participated in fundraising. “Kawartha Heights Public School has been amazing. They exceeded their goal of $4,500 for the campaign. We’ve also had a school up in Apsley that continued,” Payne said.
The virtual event wouldn’t have happened without the support of the police services, she said.
“We worked really closely with Sgt. John Townsend and retired Sgt. Marc Habgood — both from Peterborough — to ensure the campaign moved forward,” Payne said. “The two
of them, along with amazing guys from the Durham police services, were vital in getting their teams on board, and they were part of that process of creating a new virtual campaign.”
Now that Pedal For Hope is finished, Payne is encouraging people to sign up for Relay At Home — a virtual Relay For Life event taking place June 13 from 7 to 9 p.m.
“There’s currently no registration fee, so it’s a chance for people to sign up and be part of the event,” Payne said.
Heidi Hayes, who is going into her fourth year at Trent University, is this year’s survivor speaker at the Relay At Home event.
“I was diagnosed when I was 9 1/2 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, so I underwent 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy,” Hayes said, who finished treatment in 2010.
“But from the intense chemotherapy I went through as a child, I have long-lasting side effects that I struggle with everyday,” Hayes said.
She suffers from heart, brain and bone damage.
“I’m also nonfertile, so I won’t be able to have kids, and, statistically, I’m going to have another cancer within the five to 10 years,” Hayes added.
She has been both participating and speaking at Relay For Life events provincewide for 11 years. The event means everything to her, she said.
“I think that Relay For Life events are so unique in the sense that they celebrate the struggle against cancer, and don’t focus on it as just being a bad thing, but as a journey, and when you come together that cancer doesn’t just effect one person, it effects the whole community,” she said.
“When I speak at Relay For Life events I see people who are close to my age who — although haven’t had cancer first-hand — are still out fighting for a cure for it, because somehow they’ve been effected by it and they want to see a better future.”
Hayes said because of the convenience of this year’s virtual event, she’s encouraging many friends and family to join.
“I’m getting people who I know haven’t participated in the event to join because it’s not as big of a commitment, and it’s a free registration,” she said.
However, she said fundraising has been challenging this year.
“I’ve just been asking people to donate what they can and the people who join my team, instead of paying the registration fee because it’s free, I’m asking them to put the $20 they would have used to register and donate it, or do whatever they can,” she said.
Payne said because of the pandemic the agency is anticipating an $80 million to $100 million revenue loss nationally.
“And we’re anticipating that’s going to roll into next year too just knowing the financial situation that’s happened to a lot of people,” she said. “We’ve been impacted severely as an organization.”
To register for Relay At Home, visit support.cancer.ca.
Funded by the Government of Canada/Financé par le Gouvernement du Canada.