Rio Tinto Alcan’s managers for the modernization project, Michel Lamarre, Kevin Dobbin and Bruno Lapointe, represented B.C. in an annual cycling-based fundraiser.
Le Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie is an annual fundraising initiative for the GO Foundation, supporting research for hereditary diseases in children and promoting healthy living of school-aged kids.
This year’s mega cycling charity event took place in June through a number of communities in Quebec, but for the first time it had a significant Kitimat connection.
The Kitimat-heavy team also comprised Olympian and Canadian Senator Nancy Greene Raine and her husband Al Raine.
The team’s objective was to raise funds to support youth in Kitimat and Kitamaat’s community through a ‘Get Up and Move!’ initiative at Haisla Community School and Nechako Elementary School. The program’s aim is to promote physical activity to young kids so that they adopt healthy lifestyles at an early age.
When the local schools agreed to join the movement, they committed to raising as many ‘energy cubes’ as possible in the month of May. One energy cube equates to 15 minutes of physical activity.
In total, participating Kitimat children generated 43,423 cubes of energy – that’s 651,345 minutes of physical acitivity.
In all, the team raised $29,000 for the cause locally, and the money was split between the Haisla Community School, Nechako Elementary — each receiving $9,700 — and the rest going to the GO Foundation’s medical research programs.
Local funds received by the schools will be used to purchase equipment or finance activities promoting physical activity.
- Submitted