Since the community won’t be able to have an in-person Walk to Make Cystic Fibrosis (CF) History event this year, a local family is once again doing its part for the cause.
Team McIntyre Family and Friends is in the midst of fundraising for the virtual walk.
Kasey McIntyre, whose son Liam has CF, said she spoke with a family member whose club did a bottle drive fundraiser, and the McIntyres thought it was a great idea to do something safely to keep fundraising for the fight against CF.
Her father Ron Dunville reached out to SARCAN, and anyone can drop off their bags of empty pop cans and bottles at the kiosk at the local SARCAN or at other depots in the province.
“You go to the side door with your cans and donations, and at the kiosk you can enter our team name, Team McIntyre. And then you just put down the number of bags you have and it prints out your ticket and a receipt, and we’re doing this until the end of May.”
People can also make arrangements with Dunville to drop off the empties at his home and then take them to SARCAN.
Team McIntyre has loved doing fundraisers in the past, such as a barbecue at the Southern Plains Co-op or a sale at the Estevan Farmers’ Market, because they get to see people in the community. The lack of interaction has been the biggest challenge as they collect donations this year.
The recycling fundraiser has gone really well thus far. There are about 10 people on the team, between kids and adults. As of Monday afternoon, they had raised $3,158, and their goal was $3,000 this year.
They selected that amount because they have never raised $3,000.
“We just want to let people know that we are still fundraising, because people might not know right now that we even are.”
The slogan for this year’s CF Virtual Walk is Go Further. It’s asking who do you go further for. Because of the family’s love for Liam, they’re rallying for him because he faces challenges every day, and so do other people who have CF.
People who want to support the virtual walk can also visit the Walk for Cystic Fibrosis website. The national virtual walk will be on May 30, and on that day, Team McIntyre has challenged themselves to do some form of exercise, such as walking, biking or hiking. And they will make posters to connect with as many people as possible.
Last year her brother Cole Dunville rode a bicycle from Estevan to Bienfait.
“The whole idea of the physical fitness challenge like the walk that we normally do is to feel what they feel when you’re breathing and struggling and you’re thinking ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t do this,’ but you can, because they do,” said McIntyre.
Last year team members also hung the posters at the Dunville home, and anyone that drove by supportively honked their horns in awareness for CF. It allowed them to stay in touch with the community.
It’s very important to help this fundraiser, because it is national, and the money that goes back to CF makes a big difference.
“We’re still going to do that this year to connect across everywhere so that people can see that we’re still raising awareness for cystic fibrosis. It’s just a little different,” said McIntyre.
