The B.C. teachers’ strike isn’t just having an impact on parents and kids -- it’s also affecting the ability of charities to raise money.
High-profile fundraiser Cops for Cancer says it may not receive $350,000 because they can’t get access to school grounds, parents and kids.
“Each year we rely on the schools. They represent about 15 per cent. Looks like we’re not going to be able to have that opportunity this year,” said Canadian Cancer Society’s B.C. CEO, Barbara Kaminsky.
Cops for Cancer is a charity where police officers ride about 900 kilometres in nine days, stopping at schools along the way to educate and to inspire children and their families to donate to cancer research.
“They love it when they see us,” said Vancouver Const. Dayne Campbell, who has been riding for six years. “We ride right into the schools with the motorbike escort team. The kids really like it.”
The ride will begin on Wednesday in the Lower Mainland. But with the teachers strike, schools across B.C. are closed. That means a crucial fundraising opportunity is lost.
The money also goes to Camp Goodtimes, a summer camp for kids with cancer. That was where five-year-old Charlotte Lageston was able to go the past two summers while being treated for leukemia.
“She was a true fighter. For a lot of people, unless they saw her when she was bald would not have guessed she was going through leukemia,” said Charlotte’s dad, Stefan Lageston.
Lageston said the opportunity to go to camp was life-changing for Charlotte, who finished chemo in July and is now in a 90-day observation period.
He said it’s important that the camp and Cops for Cancer receives funding.
“I’d like to make sure my daughter and any family, friends, anyone in general, whether they’re adult or child – that that cancer is taken care of,” he said.
Cops for Cancer has an alternate route that doesn’t go through schools, and the agency is still accepting donations.
Other organizations have been affected: The Girl Guides’ Laurie Hooker says some troops have had to find other places to meet while they can’t go on school property.
And the Terry Fox Run at schools is scheduled for Sept. 24, which leaves some time to resolve the teachers strike, according to Donna White of the Terry Fox Foundation.
If the strike isn’t resolved by then, schools can postpone the run to a day of their choosing, White said.
“They can hold their runs in October, they can hold their runs in April, it’s just a suggested date,” White said.