Published in The BANAR, November 2017 by Bill Horne, Event Chair
Thanks to near perfect weather, great community support, willing volunteers, a topnotch organizing committee, and amazing sponsors, Cancer Chase 2017 has turned over $15,680 to the Ottawa Hospital Foundation for cancer research.
I am so pleased to announce that we beat the previous year’s contribution by about 10%, which had been the most successful before that. And it all stays right here in the NCR. We were very happy to partner with the Michelle Karen Chung Endowment Fund at the OHF.
I cannot possibly thank everyone by name who contributed to our success, in addition to the 220 of you who actually participated. Permit me to collectively thank our organizing committee, many of whom have done this for years, and the “day of” volunteers, many of whom are veterans. We were
delighted to welcome several new members to our organizing committee, including Belinda Leung and Brent Smyth. Belinda was truly awesome for all the jobs she did so well. Our new OHF rep Meghan Maack helped so much with taking meticulous care of the money.
The Blackburn Community Association, of which we are a committee, was outstanding in financial support and logistics. Special thanks to BCA President Laura Dudas and Fun Fair Chair Brent Laurie for their help. Course volunteers were from Ottawa Jr. 67s PeeWee and Bantam AAA teams, and did an amazing job.
We had an incredible 62% increase in online Running Room registrations over last year, and those are so valuable, as they generate significant revenue. And the Running Room provided the start/finish apparatus and gift cards for the top two male and female finishers. Yay, Orleans and Bank Street Running Room stores.
Our awesome sponsors are listed within the BANAR, and on the website, cancerchase.com, and they helped to make the Silent Auction and raffle a major source of our funds. See the list and show them your appreciation. Ottawa Paramedics, Ottawa Parks and Recreation, the NCC and the Gloucester Hornets Soccer Association all played a major role in our success. Once again, the Metro store’s Chris Shaeen let us approach Metro shoppers for donations, and the results were awesome. And the venerable former Councillor Rainer Bloess; what a guy!
I want to give a fatherly shout out to my daughter Stephenie, who collectively managed the cancerchase.com website and the event photography. My other daughter, Jennifer, came from London to help out on the day. I am so fortunate to have their continuing support.
Huge apologies if I have missed someone I should have recognized by name; you are all so treasured in this.
And here’s the final pitch: this will be my last Run for the Cure and Cancer chase, after 16 years. Time to move on to other things. Who out there is a great organizer and wants to defeat cancer in our lifetimes? And ready to work hard.
Thanks to all who have made this so worthwhile for all these years.