Saturday February 20, 2021 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
This weekend would have marked the start of the 2021 Wounded Warrior Run BC.
Due to current public health orders in BC, the group has postponed their annual fundraising marathon (normally a February event) to now take place April 11 to 18.
The run starts in the island’s north at Port Hardy and wraps up in Victoria each year, with a high-profile pit-stop in Langford.
Race director Jacqueline Zweng says the group hopes that provincial health orders during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will allow non-essential travel by then. In which case Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry will join the team for the final leg of the journey through downtown Victoria and speak at the finale.
“We are still working every day to raise funds for our veterans, first responders and their families to access life-changing programs through Wounded Warriors Canada,” said Zweng in a release yesterday.
This year’s fundraising goal for the Wounded Warrior Run BC (which supports the Wounded Warrior Canada mental health charity) is $250,000. The funds are used mostly to pay professional counsellors to provide support group programs to people in the military and first responder communities who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related concerns that have resulted from a range of traumas.
“This year this need is greater than ever, given the circumstances of the past year since our last run in 2020, which was literally a week before the pandemic shut things down in Canada,” says Zweng.
As part of the Wounded Warrior Run BC COVID-19 protocols, masks will be worn at all times when team members are in public, with the exception of physically running. There will be no hand shaking or hugging during stops. The team will physical distance when interacting with the public and will avoid indoor spaces as much as possible.
The grand finale of the run will be held on Sunday April 18 in Market Square in downtown Victoria at 4:30 pm. A small live-streamed event will take place if gatherings are not permitted at that time.
The group is accepting sponsorships and donations as part of their fundraising effort.
Island Social Trends (formerly West Shore Voice News) has covered the Wounded Warrior Run each year since 2017.
