Together We Move As One

Zumbathon® For Cancer. It started out as an idea after facing a nightmare year with my sister battling and winning the fight against Cancer. Many people in my family have had to fight it and my list of guardian angels is too many. I know many families have faced the same challenges. How do you help someone going through such a time? What do you do to show your support and care? Sitting at home, crying and praying happens naturally but I wanted to do more. I needed to do something to contribute to the fight, even if compared to the warriors who have faced Cancer straight in the eyes, it was a small act. Hence the Zumbathon® For Cancer was born. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine what this event would become to myself and to others.

Year one. First Friday of June 2014. I organized a one hour Zumba® class in the hopes to donate all funds raised in ticket sales to Cancer, more specifically to the BC Cancer Foundation. Being a high school teacher and Zumba® instructor I decided that hosting it at my school would be the perfect place for such an event. What’s more powerful than a community coming together? I threw a playlist together, printed tickets at the school, created a Facebook event page, got two prizes from local gyms to give away in a draw and advertised this event with no big expectations. To my joy and surprise, one hundred people attended and we raised $1794.50. That was it. The fuel to my fire was lit. A burning flame was born that has continued to grow over the years.

Year two. A few less attendees but an equally great donation collected in the name of Cancer. And then year three. We opened the doors as we had every other year with one volunteer at the check in desk and one volunteer helping with the waivers. One guest arrived, two, then three until my volunteers ran towards me in a panic telling me that we had run out of waivers. I had printed one hundred. Final attendance of the night? Over two hundred community members dancing, sweating, and fighting together towards a worthy cause. I was humbled, emotional, surprised and over the moon. Total collected for the BC Cancer Foundation? $2130.

Year four and every year since then the event has moved to the big gym, my volunteer team went from 2 to over 20, I found a wonderful volunteer DJ, local businesses and friends (too many to count) have donated prizes for the draw and helped to sell tickets, generous photographers volunteer to take snaps of the joyful moments shared, and over 250 people from all over the community participate yearly.

This year COVID-19 forced me to be creative and host the event virtually. Canceling was not an option and even $1 collected to me was better than nothing. I feared that the event would fail and that no one would attend. Surrounded and supported by our community, I was proven wrong. With over 75 attendees and generous online donations, we pulled together to raise $5715. Not even this difficult time that we all find ourselves in stood in the way of this event’s overwhelming, heart-warming success.

What a dream this has all become. What started as an idea to raise a few dollars has turned into a personal and collective goal to do our best, to work together, and to have fun while doing it. To date we have collected $28,892.50. Who is the “WE” I have so often mentioned? The “WE” is all of YOU. This event would be nothing without the people who support it and the volunteers that tirelessly donate their time. A special shoutout to my Zumba® crew that continues to show up and stand behind me and this worthwhile cause. Whether it is through donating online or attending the event itself, we / you / our community is responsible for the success it has become. We cannot stop now. I will not stop now. This event is a near and dear event that I will continue to host for as long as people will believe in it. This is a small part we can play in the fight against Cancer. There is still so much to do, so much research, so much fighting but together we will get there.

Thank you for being a part of this story. It means more than you will ever know. 8th annual Zumbathon® Charity Event For Cancer, you can’t come soon enough! See you all there.

Sincerely,

Elaine