Niagara war vet aims to walk 100 laps for 100th birthday fundraiser
Chuck Page is raising money for Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre
Ninety-nine-year-old Chuck Page isn’t just strolling down his St. Catharines street. He’s on a mission.
Wearing a “Don’t ever quit” T-shirt, the Second World War veteran is keeping track of the daily laps he makes around his housing complex with his walker.
His goal is to make it to 100 by his 100th birthday on Aug. 9 and raise more than $5,000 for patient equipment for Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre.
“My birthday was a long way off when we started,” he said Wednesday outside the Linwell Road home he shares with wife Irene, 10 years his junior. “Not quite so far away now.” Page’s connection to Niagara’s only rehabilitation hospital is through family.
Irene was a patient there in 2018 and his brother Al, who died in 2012, was a longtime volunteer known as “Pop Can Al” because he collected thousands of pop cans and sold them to an aluminum recycler to raise money for the centre.
Before Page started his fundraiser, walking around his housing complex was not something he did, though he’s spent a lifetime being active.
He would normally work out at the Brock-niagara Centre for Health and Well-being, the first honorary lifetime member of the Senior Fit program there. He lifted weights and used equipment three times a week until COVID-19 shut the centre down.
With the gym closed, he tried calisthenics in the kitchen at family friend Mary Ellen Hilko’s urging, but it didn’t take.
“I didn’t like doing the exercises,” he said. “Who wants to stand on their toes and lift their heels?”
He decided instead to get out of the house for a good cause, inspired by Army Capt. Tom Moore, the 99-year-old British Second World War veteran who earlier this year raised millions of dollars for Britain’s National Health Service by walking 100 laps in his garden.
“We thought we could do it, too,” he said.
Page started walking on April 20, but had to stop for a time after surgery and for health reasons. He’s been back out ev“we ery day since May 16, no matter the weather.
“The hot days don’t bother me,” he said, adding he wears a hat. “The hotter the better.”
A lifelong St. Catharines resident, Page grew up in the Facer Street area. He was with the Air Force for four years and spent two years as a prisoner of war during the Second World War when he and his flight crew were shot down over the Dutch coast and captured by the Nazis. He and Irene have three children and five grandchildren.
He said he’s always been fairly fit, playing sports including softball, rugby, football and shinny hockey over the years.
His son Dave Page said his father’s feat is incredible.
“If you ask him how he is, it’s ‘I’m fine, I’m perfect, no problem.’ He’s an inspiration to lots of people, not just us kids.”
Page started with a public goal of $5,000 but it was clear Wednesday he’s set his sights higher.
“That’s not nearly enough,” he said. “It’s got to be more than five. It’s a good cause.”
On Monday, Hotel Dieu Shaver put up lawn signs explaining Page’s goal and now everyone in his neighbourhood knows what the daily walks are about.
“He’s garnered all kinds of support around here,” said Hilko, adding people tell him “Congratulations” and “Keep it up.” She said Page brings dog biscuits in his walker and the neighbourhood dogs now greet him, too.
He’s halfway through his 100 laps, but Page said he has no plans on slowing down if he makes the goal before his birthday.
“I’m going to continue. We’ll see how many we get,” he said.
His fundraiser went public last week on Facebook and Hotel Dieu’s foundation site at foundation.hoteldieushaver.org. He’s already raised more than $4,600.
were completely honoured that he and his family were so supportive of Hotel Dieu Shaver,” said Tracy Geoffroy, the foundation’s executive director.
Geoffroy said patient equipment is the No. 1 need for the hospital at all times because it is not covered by the government.
Last year, Hotel Dieu Shaver served 1,200 in-patients and 40,000 outpatients.