Terry Fox is a true Canadian hero who has left a legacy for
our nation. This September, we will celebrate the 35th
Anniversary of Terry’s “Marathon of Hope” when, in his run across Canada, he
challenged every Canadian to donate $1 to his cause of fighting cancer.
We all know that Terry didn’t physically complete his marathon, but his dream
lives on and his goal of raising money for the fight against cancer continues
to this day.
The Anglophone West School District has decided to mark this
35th anniversary with a marathon of its own…one that spans across
our vast region of Western and Central New Brunswick and passes by each of our
70 schools in ASD-W. In a relay of interested ASD-W staff members, we
plan to cover a 980 km stretch by walking, running or biking over the course of
one month (September 10 to October 7), challenging the students and staff to
donate $1 each, with the goal of raising $26 000 for the continued fight
against cancer.
This relay also serves a second important purpose: a
symbolic unification of the Anglophone West School District. With three
years under our belt as an amalgamated school district, this activity will show
that we are one, unified district, committed to serving the students in our
system.
Here is how it will work:
·
All
staff members are invited to sign up for a “leg” of the relay. There are
229 legs that join together to create the full route that will pass by each of
the 70 schools. The sections of the course and a map can be seen in the "Documents" section of this page.
·
Participants
can walk, run, bike or travel using any form of active movement. A
yet-to-be-determined item will be handed from participant to participant at the
end of one segment and beginning of the next.
·
The
dates and paths have been set. The times are fluid and will be confirmed
as we get closer to that day. As such, when you sign up, you will need to
be flexible with your time, within a general span.
·
To
maintain our schedule, the relay will continue, rain or shine.
·
Participants
may sign-up for more than one slot and more than one participant can share a
slot if you would like to do this with a small group of colleagues.
·
The
times for the relay vary with some during the school day and some after the
school day, into the evening or the weekend. Unfortunately, we cannot
provide release time for participation, although we do acknowledge some
instances where flexibility in the day will allow for participation
o
name,
o
slot, and
o
mode of transportation.
·
The
schedule will be updated daily and re-posted to the website so that we
can monitor the sign-up progress.
·
We
ask for registration to occur over the next week and prior to the end of this
school year. Remaining open slots will still be available for sign-up as
the summer progresses, but we hope to have most of them filled by June 23.
·
Depending
on the specifics of the date and route, there may or may not be a guide who
offers assistance and transition: In some cases, it will not be necessary
and the relay will flow smoothly. In other cases, we will have someone
who coordinates the segments of that particular part of the relay.
·
T-shirts
will be made available for the main participant of each segment.
The key requirements for participants will be the need to be
flexible and the desire to have fun!
Our vision is to pass by schools as much as possible during
the instructional day, allowing the schools to participate by cheering on the
relay and, hopefully, offering a collective donation of $1 per student and
employee in the building. Each school can determine their own
participation and level of detail as the event approaches. We have a
sub-committee that is working on a sharing of resources to support
cross-curricular learning activities associated with Terry Fox and the Marathon
of Hope as well as a sub-committee that can share ideas on school spirit and
activities. This sharing will occur in September and is completely
voluntary. We do hope, however, that you will challenge those in the
building to contribute $1 to the cause. You can still continue with your
traditional Terry Fox school-based activities, as per normal. You may
even with to link them into this event.
Our organizing group has remained committed to not
over-complicating this event. We believe it is important for the two
reasons – recognizing the legacy of Terry Fox while contributing to his
fundraising goal as well as symbolically bringing together one of the largest
school districts in the province. We also believe that it should be a fun
activity that promotes physical activity.
Linda Dempsey-Nicholson (
linda.dempsey-nicholson@nbed.nb.ca)
is the contact person for any questions that you may have and will be the
person who sends out most of the details from now on.
We hope you will find a way to participate by either signing
up for a segment of the relay or leading your class in a related activity next
fall.
Sincerely,
David