Fundraising continues after the Wounded Warriors Run raised $180,000 over the eight-day course starting in Port Hardy and finishing in Victoria.
The run, supporting Wounded Warriors Canada, covered 800 km from the North to the South Island.
While they did not quite reach their $250,000 goal, director Jacqueline Zweng says the funds will still go a long way to supporting first responders and their families.
“It’s an incredible journey. We stopped about 28 times in the eight days and we tried to connect with as many community members that we can up and down the Island,” said Zweng.
“It just feels like we did everything possible to spread our message that there’s these programs through Wounded Warriors Canada here for our people in uniform. They keep our communities safe, and we want to support them on the other side of that.”
While the total is expected to increase over the rest of the month, Zweng says it will go towards many programs to aid those in uniform on the Island.
Those include programs like Before Operational Stress, which aims to educate members about what trauma they will face. This means they can learn about tools, strategies and language to help them be prepared.
“It’s often been looked at in the past as after somebody has been exposed to trauma and then trying to figure that out,” said Zweng. “Getting ahead of that is really important.”
The Trauma Resiliency Program is another program. It is operated in a group setting, and the two-part program dives into the science of PTSD, what it means to the brain in these situations and learning how to work through different trauma types.
Programs for couples overcoming PTSD and others are also available.
“A service member does not just suffer on their own, it affects their family, so this gives the couple the opportunity to work through that,” added Zweng.
“Somebody might be down one day, but you’ve already got more information to pass on.”
More information about Wounded Warriors, the services they provide and how to donate can be found here.
“We’re just so grateful that so many people showed up and it takes a community to surround our trauma-exposed professionals and help them,” said Zweng.
