By Adam Prudhomme
Staff Reporter
Just when it seemed like Napanee’s Terry Fox Run would be discontinued, a trio of local volunteers stepped up to save the Sept. 17 fundraising event.
Kelly Schermerhorn, Michelle Way and Carol Anne Hanna all answered the call, agreeing to organize this year’s event and make sure the run, which has been held every year in Napanee since 1982, remained uninterrupted. They’ll take the torch from last year’s organizer Gary O’Neill, who has agreed to stay on and assist with planning for this year.
Registration for the Sept. 17 run will take place at 9 a.m. at the Napanee Mall, which also marks the starting point of the five kilometre or 10km course. As always, the event isn’t about being the fastest: participants can walk, jog, bike, rollerblade or wheelchair their way through the course at their own pace. Volunteers will remain at the Napanee Mall until 1 p.m.
Advanced registration and online donations can also be made at www.TerryFox.org. Money raised from this event, as well as hundreds held simultaneously across the country, will go towards fighting cancer.
To date Napanee has raised $529,563.71 since 1982.
“When I saw the e-mail that said there was a possibility that there wouldn’t be (a Terry Fox event in Napanee), nobody wanted to organize it or take it on, I couldn’t let that go,” said Schermerhorn. “Michelle, Carol Anne and myself all wrote e-mails saying we’d assist so the three of us came together and Gary, who organized it last year, has given us tremendous amounts of guidance. We just couldn’t see it go.”
“I’ve walked it since I was a small child and I want to continue doing it,” added Schermerhorn. “Everybody I know has been touched by cancer and I think its a good thing to be a part of and we’re very excited for this year.”
Because the organizers got a bit of a late start in planning for this year’s run, it will be held in a similar fashion to the previous years. With three new people in charge going forward however, it lends itself well to fresh ideas being generated for the future.
“This year we’re just getting our feet wet and seeing what it entails,” said Schermerhorn. “It’s great that there’s more than one of us to take on the load of everything. There’s a lot of organization required for these types of events. Next year you might see some new things that we might attempt or try, but this year we’re just getting our toes wet.”
Anyone looking to volunteer with the event is encouraged to log onto the Terry Fox Run Napanee 2017 Facebook event page. Schermerhorn says they are in need of as many volunteers as they can get.
The annual run is held across Canada in memory of Terry Fox, who set out to run across Canada and raise on dollar for every person living in Canada during his Marathon of Hope. Though cancer prevented Fox from completing his journey, thousands of Canadians continue to run in his honour and raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation.