A long-time organizer behind the Dresden Terry Fox Run is blown away after this year's virtual event raised $44,000 so far.
Cindy Brewer said the amount raised through the Dresden event for the 40th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope has already broken a previous local fundraising record of $42,000.
"I was really surprised to see we broke a record -- our own record!" said Brewer.
Like many fundraisers in 2020, the Terry Fox Run went virtual in September. Brewer said she wasn't sure what to expect this year in terms of public response.
"Once we realized that we needed to have a virtual run, what we tried to communicate to our supporters was that cancer research just can't wait for COVID-19 to be over and to give what they could if they could," she said.
Brewer said the organizing committee had many plans for this year's Dresden Terry Fox Run as it coincided with the 25th anniversary of the event in Dresden.
"We were originally intending to go all out this year and do more than we had ever done before," she said. "As the months went by, the events got cancelled, we got a little discouraged. But the people in the community... they were with us, they were encouraging us all the way."
Prior to the pandemic, Brewer said a goal was set to raise $40,000 to represent the Marathon of Hope's 40th anniversary so she was "dumbfounded" to learn the actual amount raised.
"Normally on a run year, you know roughly how much was collected by the end of that day but this year people did the majority of it online and the people that used pledge sheets mailed them in so we had no idea how much money was going in," she said. "We're so incredibly thankful for the generosity of the supporters. We thought this year was going to be a really fragile year of fundraising and it turned into a record-breaking triumph!"
As for plans for next year's fundraiser, that's out of Brewer's hands as she plans to retire from the position with a new organizer taking over.
Brewer has been heading up the Dresen Terry Fox Run for 25 years and admits it will be difficult to step away from the organizer role, but she will continue to take part in some way.
"I don't think I could ever get it out of my blood completely. They know I'm going to be there to support them in any way that I can," she said. "We've got young legs and fresh eyes on it now. Megan Robinson is going to be our new organizer so I'm really excited to see what she can do with [the run]."
Online donations can still be made, Brewer said collections for this year's run actually ends at the end of March 2021.
