The late Terry Fox said one of his hopes was to have every Canadian donate one dollar to help in the fight against cancer.
Arctic Bay, like hundreds of other locales around Canada, took part in the annual Terry Fox Run on Sept. 15. A total of 143 participants registered in the North Baffin community, according to Thomas Levi, Arctic Bay鈥檚 recreation co-ordinator and co-organizer of the event.
鈥淚 drove the fire truck around town with the siren and Roxanne Kigutaq and I talked on the microphone announcing where people could register and when the run will start,鈥� Levi said.
He also said he had been advertising the run on the community radio station for a week and also put up information on local bulletin boards.
There were certificates for everyone who completed the run or walk but not everyone got a certificate.
That鈥檚 because they ran out, said Levi, but there was a quick solution to that problem.
鈥淔or kids that we ran out of certificates for, we gave them ribbons (and) they were just as happy, too,鈥� he said.
The total raised from the run was $159.11 but when you add in the $150 raised by the golf tournament which happened the weekend before, that total becomes $309.11.
The golf tournament normally happens on the same day as the run but Levi said the golf tournament was held a week earlier than normal because it always seems to snow on the day of the tournament.
The work done by Levi and company in Arctic Bay didn鈥檛 go unnoticed by the Terry Fox Foundation in Calgary.
Christie Krawchuk, the foundation鈥檚 co-ordinator of community events and fundraising, said seeing Arctic Bay鈥檚 work is a testament to what Fox wanted.
鈥淭he run reaches far and wide and even 39 years after the Marathon of Hope, there鈥檚 still huge involvement,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 become a part of Canadian history and even small communities like Arctic Bay taking part on that one day of the year is fantastic. It shows that they still honour Terry鈥檚 legacy.鈥�
The event in Arctic Bay may not be the biggest one in Canada and it may not raise the same amount of money as other larger centres in the country but every little bit helps, she added.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still the same event and it goes back to what Terry said about every Canadian donating that one dollar,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 have to be a big event 鈥� you can cater it to the size of the community 鈥� and no matter what you raise, the bigger thing is that you鈥檙e raising awareness.鈥�
Levi was happy with how things turned out and he plans to be ready for the 2020 run.
鈥淚f we are hosting another run next year, I want to have 150 certificates,鈥� he said.
