By Colleen Flanagan, The Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows News
Hundreds of students stood outside Albion Elementary Wednesday, Sept. 20, to welcome the Cops for Cancer Tour de Coast team who are on an 800-kilometre journey raising money for children and their families who are living with cancer.
As the 42-member tour – including law enforcement personnel, first responders, and emergency services providers – rode into the parking lot, students holding signs with messages of support, reached out to slap their hands and give them high-fives.
Grade 7 students Jevan Coates and Owen McDonald, were holding a big sign that read, “Don’t give up.” The sign, which Jevan said his whole class worked on, offered encouraging words for the members of the tour who are raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society.
“We need to raise money and encourage them to keep doing a good job,” added Owen.
Grade 2 student Paisley Kaleta said she was sad when she thought about other children having cancer and said she wanted them to feel better.
Six-year-old Bennett Lloyd added that cancer was a really bad sickness, saying that’s why it is important to raise money to find a cure.
Riders hit the road on Sept. 15 for the fundraising campaign, with money going towards the Canadian Cancer Society and the funding of new pediatric cancer research discoveries, in addition to Camp Goodtimes in Maple Ridge, which sees about 600 children living with cancer each year. The camp is a medically-supervised recreation experience for children and teens affected by cancer and their families.