The wheels are in motion at Elgin Park Secondary, where a group of student volunteers are busy organizing a fundraiser for Peace Arch Hospital.
The fourth annual Cycle4:ER, a 10-hour cycle-a-thon, is set to take place May 27 at the South Surrey school, and will feature up to 70 teams and 700 riders taking part throughout the day.
Several of the students on the organizing committee have taken part in past years’ Cycle4 events, and jumped at the chance to lend a hand with this year’s fundraiser.
“I was on the leadership team when we did it two years ago and I saw how big of an impact it had on everyone,” Kassie Smith, a Grade 12 student and co-organizer told Peace Arch News.
The decision to raise funds for Peace Arch Hospital’s emergency department expansion was an easy one for the group, who said they all share a connection to the hospital and the ER.
“We’ve been trying to find a way to connect the community and the school, and we found more people connect to going to Peace Arch,” explained Katie Williams. “They were born there, or they’ve been there with some sort of injury.”
Plans to expand the emergency department include doubling the treatment areas, adding specific pediatric and mental-health treatment spaces and a dedicated ambulance entrance.
Smith pointed out that while the hospital is known for saving the lives of those who are seriously ill or injured, it also helps many families on a day-to-day basis with less severe situations.
“My little brother, he’s eight years old, and he has really bad asthma when he’s sick,” Smith said. “He goes to the ER probably once a week. And without them there, it would be a lot more complicated to get him to breathe normally.”
Over the past three years, Elgin’s Cycle4 events have raised a total of $151,000. This year, participants will be tasked with raising a minimum of $100 before they take part in the cycle-a-thon.
The group decided to set a fundraising goal of $68,000 – based on the statistic that, in 2014, 68 per cent of the community visited the ER. Funds are raised in a variety of ways, the teens explained, from canvassing door-to-door, to doing extra chores or putting aside $5 from each shift they work.
Participation in the event – which includes games, food and entertainment throughout the day – goes beyond the walls of Elgin, the group said, noting local elementary school students, doctors and businesses have been involved in the past.
“We don’t want it to just be Elgin,” Smith said. “We want Elgin and the community to be coming together.”
Registration opens April 27 and will be available online at www.surreyschools.ca/schools/elginpark or on the hospital foundation’s website at www.pahfoundation.ca