COVID-19 killed their annual fundraiser. But this group found ways to make $80K anyway

It took a big community effort — and a lot of ticket sales — but one volunteer group in Newfoundland and Labrador has managed to raise thousands of dollars, and flout a pandemic that shut down their traditional fundraising efforts.

Volunteers with the Bay d'Espoir Cancer Benefit group raised $80,000 this year, enough to rival past performances, and they did it all without the annual concert that's been the centrepiece of their charity.

"Everyone has stepped up to the plate, saying 'we want to do more, what can we do to make sure the money is still there'," said Roberta Collier, one of the heads of the registered charity.

The group provides financial assistance for cancer patients to address the costs of their treatment. Money for accommodations and gasoline are a big part of the spending, for patients who have to travel from Bay d'Espoir to St. John's for radiation therapy.

Over their 21 years, it has helped more than 500 patients from the Bay d'Espoir region.

"We have to do this, this has to continue," said Collier.  "And the residents make sure that they are there to step up whenever we need them to."

The charity announced its decision to cancel their benefit concert in April, just a few weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic struck Newfoundland and Labrador.

It was a tough call. The concert is the focal point for the group's fundraising efforts, and families in Bay d'Espoir even plan reunions and events around it, according to Helena Thornhill, another of the group's leaders.

Collier said the decision was "devastating."

"We were challenged as to find ways to come up with funds," she said.

The solution was a fundraising blitz — an online auction, a canoe raffle, an outdoor walk and 50/50 draws — all throughout the year.

'It meant the world to me'

About $5,500 of the year's fundraising total came from a group of long-time, dedicated volunteers known as the Cancer Benefit Angels.

"I'll always support the Cancer Benefit because I don't know, maybe I might need it again. Please god I don't," said Colleen Hickman.

There's so many people touched by cancer.- Charlotte Julien

Hickman was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Her treatment took her to St. John's, for chemotherapy and surgery. She lost her hair, and needed a prosthesis — and she says the cancer benefit group was there for her the whole time.

"It meant the world to me, my husband, we didn't have benefits at the time because he was just part-time working," she said.

"I stayed at the Daffodil Place for five weeks and it didn't cost me anything. All my medications, my bras, my prosthesis like I said were all covered. That's one of the reasons that I am involved to give back to other cancer patients."

Charlotte Julien said the wallets and pocketbooks in the community always seem open to the volunteers. 

"There's so many people touched by cancer," she said. "You can't go door to door here and not see at least almost every household somebody has been touched by cancer."

Julien started fundraising for the cancer benefit in 2005, when her older sister was diagnosed with cancer. A group of women who were painting together decided to "do something together," she said, to help the cause.

"It's been tough sometimes, a lot of tears, a lot of happy tears, but we do what we can do to help."

In the past 15 years, her Cancer Benefit Angels have raised more than $150,000, she said.

"It's a lot of trips on the highway, and a lot of rooms in the Daffodil house, and a lot of medication."

This month they are selling tickets on a locally-made fiberglass canoe that will be awarded next year. Kevin McDonald, a resident of Bay d'Espoir, donated the canoe free of charge so more of the proceeds can go to the charity, according to Julien.

Emotional hike

Another $5,000 of this year's returns came from Conne River, and a group of hikers who turned a family tragedy into a spiritual — and charitable — cause.

Trey Hill, Vincent John, Jack Drew and Harvey Drew spent three and a half days hiking from Conne River Pond to Mount Sylvester in September.

They left just over a month after Zachariah Drew, Harvey's younger brother, died in a head-on ATV crash in Conne River.

"He always wanted to walk to Sylvester's Mountain," said Harvey. "And he always told his wife that one day, he said, I'm going to get my brother to take me to the mountain"

"I didn't know about this, she told me during the wake. Then of course I got at it in my head that we got to do this."

Zach Drew frequently fundraised with Extra Life video game marathons, so it was natural for the hikers to raise some money along the way to benefit people needing medical care.

The group carried Zach's ashes to the top of the mountain before getting an airlift by bushplane.

Emotionally, and physically, it was a demanding trip.

"It's thirty-some odd kilometres... that's if you're going straight," Harvey Drew said. "We didn't went straight, we went up over the hills and around ponds and across creeks and like I said, after that storm the brooks were high, so we had to derobe most times just to cross the rivers. So it was tough."

Trey Hill said it was his first major hiking experience, and he was drawn to the opportunity to do something that honoured a close friend. The pair would fundraise together in the Extra Life events.

"Zach was quiet, loud when he wanted to be, he was always there to help you. He always wanted to help, all the time," he said.

Both Trey Hill and Harvey Drew agreed that most everyone in the Bay d'Espoir area has seen the impact of cancer first-hand.

"I can't count on my hands the amount of people I know who have cancer or who have had cancer," Hill said. "People in my family have had cancer, my stepmother has had cancer. The guy that I've worked with for the last 20 years, he spent the last five to ten years, dealing with people with cancer."

Those personal stories are a big part of what makes the Cancer Benefit group so successful, according to Thornhill, who calls herself a cancer survivor.

She helped begin the annual concerts that would become the Bay d'Espoir Cancer Benefit more than 20 years ago.

In a typical year, it will raise between $100,000 and $150,000. This year, even with COVID-19, they came mighty close.

"We're really really extremely proud that our community came together and saw that they did not want to deplete this fund," Thornhill said. "Because even though the COVID came, the cancer didn't go away. So we can still help our cancer patients in whatever they need."

"Today it's me, and tomorrow it could be you. And I think everybody realizes that. And, I don't know, it's just been a tremendous support from day one. And it hasn't changed in twenty years besides."