A photo of Terry Fox during his Marathon of Hope courtesy of TerryFox.org.A photo of Terry Fox during his Marathon of Hope courtesy of TerryFox.org.
Chatham

Dresden Terry Fox raises over $51k during return to in-person event

After two years online, residents ensured the in-person return of the annual Dresden Terry Fox Run was a successful one, bringing in over $51,000 in donations.

The event, inspired by the late Terry Fox to raise funds for cancer research, returned to the Royal Canadian Legion 113 branch in Dresden on Sunday and according to the event organizers, the event looked just as it did pre-pandemic.

"We had an awesome day. The weather held off great for us and we did have our crowds come back. Some new people and then definitely our veteran Terry Foxers which was great," said Dresden Terry Fox Run Coordinator Meg Robinson. "It was great to see everybody's faces and everyone was so excited just to be back in person again."

Last year, the event collected just over $50,000 worth of donations. Robinson called this year's totals "amazing" with pledge totals coming in at $51,095 and counting. She explained that the total will likely go up as donations continue to trickle in over the next several days and beyond into the end of this year.

While the event went ahead like it did in years prior to COVID-19, Robinson said they were finally able to recognize the event's former long-time coordinator, Cindy Brewer, who stepped down in 2020, as well as some others who have helped make the event what it is today.

"[Cindy's] dedicated 25 years to the Dresden Terry Fox Run and made it the incredible run that it is," Robinson said. "We also recognized our local citizen Gary Caroll, he always sings O Canada for us and we gave him an award of recognition for his dedication to that."

Despite the town's small population, the Dresden Terry Fox Run has a long-standing history of ranking as one of the top towns in Ontario for per capita fundraising, meaning how much money it raises compared to the population. In 2020, Dresden ranked number one with nearly $19 per capital raised compared to Tilbury, a town nearly double in size, which raised just over $4 per capita.

With this success under their belts, Robinson said organizers will take some much-needed downtime before preparing for next year's campaign starting in the early spring.

"We are just blown away by the total that we're at already and knowing that it's at $51,000 and counting," Robinson said. "So we're just super excited to see where we end up."

Donations are being accepted up until the end of the year. Those interested in making a donation can do so online.

- With files from Matt Weverink

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