Longtime social activist Patricia Grinsteed is not letting COVID-19 or her age stop her from continuing to make a difference in her community.

Grinsteed, 91, is a resident of the Lynn Valley Care Centre. The long-term care home located in North Vancouver was one of the hardest and earliest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in B.C. In total, 52 residents tested positive, 20 families lost loved ones and 32 residents survived.

Grinsteed is one of the COVID-19 survivors.

"I remember very well [in March] when they had the first death, they didn't know what it was," Grinsteed said in an interview with host Gloria Macarenko on CBC's On The Coast.

Grinsteed survived and drawing on her long history of social activism, was determined to keep giving back to her community. She's currently walking 150 laps around the Lynn Valley Care Centre to raise funds for the North Shore Women's Centre.

Caroline Croft, Grinsteed's daughter, recalled her mother's career as an activist.

"Oh gosh, I remember as a little kid doing up posters for protests and sort of joining her and always wanting to be part of it with her," Croft said.

"It's been an inspiration for me."

Grinsteed started out in the feminist movement, then fought for human rights in the LGBT community and then went into environmental advocacy.

The nonagenarian said her drive comes from her father who was born in 1885.

"He was a great storyteller [and] one of the first union men, way back in the 1920s. I can remember him lecturing me until I left home. I was pretty well schooled, unofficially schooled, in what is justice and what is injustice," Grinsteed said.

Though Grinsteed has around 40 laps left to go to reach her goal, she has already surpassed her $2,500 goal, fundraising over $6,000 for the North Shore Women's Centre.

Michelle Dodds with the centre said the group is thrilled and inspired by Grinsteed's generous gesture.

"We're gaining a lot of hope from what [Patricia] put forward and started," Dodds said.

The money will go to help purchase emergency food and toiletries, support their legal services, and a summer empowerment program for young women

"The money is going to help deliver all of these services, as well as our phone line and email where people can contact us at anytime for support," she said.

As for Grinsteed, she's doing five laps a day, with constant checkups and monitoring from the care centre staff.

"They're checking up on our wellness frequently, temperatures, blood pressure, almost everyday to make sure we don't get a comeback on the virus," she said.

"So I feel like I'm being well cared for."