Coast Scene: Hike for Hospice smashes through its $60,000 fundraising goal

The sunny jaunt along the Davis Bay seawall and community celebration in Mission Point Park May 29 was the cap on a successful spring of fundraising for Sunshine Coast Hospice Society. 

The organization’s Hike for Hospice campaign exceeded its $60,000 goal by more than $6,000. 

Among the 19 teams that hiked to raise funds for the hospice was the top-earning team Sunshine Coast BMO Runners, which included local palliative care doctor and hospice board member Carmen Goojha. The top-earning individual was fellow board member John McDougall-Goulet.

The fundraiser also featured a sporting showdown between two local Search and Rescue (SAR) teams. 

RCMSAR14 out of Gibsons (which also happened to count hospice executive director Tess Huntly among its members) challenged Sunshine Coast SAR (ground SAR) to see which team could raise the most funds. 

RCMSAR14 won $1,700 to $1,000 (though the real winner was the hospice society).

But it wasn’t just the challenge that had ground SAR participating in their first Hike for Hospice as a team. 

“Just over a year ago, one of our members died from medical reasons and he and his family were just helped so tremendously by hospice through his end of life,” said ground SAR leader Alec Tebbutt. “So we really know how valuable it is for us on the Coast.”

Ground SAR lost another team member several years earlier, to cancer, who was also helped by hospice services. 

“It's a wonderful community thing. It's a fabulous service on the Coast,” said Tebbutt. 

The funds from Hike for Hospice are to go toward the society’s programs and services, said Huntly, including end of life, palliative, bereavement and advanced care planning. 

Huntley thanks all of the sponsors, volunteers and everyone who donated.