Adventure Challenge: Help raise funds for Canuck Place Kids

Adventures in fund-raising for children (as seen in Peace Arch News)

Doug Shanks photo, Story as published by Hannah Sutherland in the Peace Arch News
Published: August 26, 2010 12:00 PM

What began as a two-person effort in last year’s Adventure Challenge has grown into a solid team of seven, after more Peninsula women caught wind of the September fundraiser and jumped on-board.

Fitness Town Freakettes – comprising five South Surrey mothers and two other friends – will kayak four kilometers, bike 20 km and run 5 km Sept. 11 in North Vancouver’s Deep Cove.

The group has been training over the last year for the event, which benefits Canuck Place and its palliative and respite care services for sick children and their families.

Melanie Berezan decided to take part after learning about the race through a past participant  whose children go to the same school as her own.

“I heard about Adventure Challenge from her last year, when she did it,” said Berezan, an avid runner who has six half-marathons under her belt. “That’s my passion – to try new things and have fun.

“I’m excited about the challenge.”

But it was the prospect of raising money for children that was the biggest draw for the mother-of-four. “I just love the idea of being part of a team and helping kids. It just reinforces the fact we’re all in this together.”

The cause is especially meaningful for Berezan, whose daughter was taken to BC Children’s Hospital with a fever a few days after being born. She recalls being unable to hold and comfort her newborn, who was hooked up to an array of equipment.

“In the four or five days that she was in there it was so traumatic.”

Berezan said she was shocked to walk outside the hospital and see numerous motor-homes in the back parking lot, where some families stay while their children receive medical care.

“I was at the hospital for a few days, and (seeing the motor-homes) really put it in perspective.”

With long-term hospital stays usually associated with stress and trepidation, Berezan said she was surprised to learn from a Canuck Place volunteer that the Vancouver hospice has a joyful environment.

“It’s not a depressing place, it’s just a place that provides so much fun.”

She said everyone at Canuck Place – located in a 100-year-old, 16,000-square-foot Shaughnessy mansion donated to the city by Elisabeth Wlosinski in 1991 – has a “fantastic outlook,” and it’s hard not to be absorbed by the upbeat energy.

“I try to explain to people, 95 per cent of the time you go into the hospice and it’s happy,” she said, noting family volunteers such as herself interact with sick children and their siblings by playing video games, having water fights and going on field trips.

“It’s a very positive, happy, fun place.”

Also said Canuck Place is mostly volunteer-run, and 65 per cent of its funding comes from donations – a fact Berezan was shocked to learn.

“I was really blown away – I didn’t know that.”

To contribute to its operations, the Freakettes are raising $1,000 each – the minimum required to participate in Adventure Challenge.

Already, Fitness Town and the group’s trainer, Dai Manuel –a fellow parent at Rosemary Heights Elementary – are sponsoring the team, and have offered to pay for each members’ $50 registration fee.

Berezan said they are now looking for outside donations, which can be made at www.adventurechallenge.ca

“No amount is too small – we’d be grateful for anything,” she said, noting people are also encouraged to come out the day of the event and cheer them on.

“We could use all the help we could get.”