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Porter Creek Secondary School (PCSS) did their annual Terry Fox Run/Walk Thursday.

The run/walk took place from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and went from Hickory St. to Wann Rd., took a turn onto Centennial St. and went back to the school on 12 Ave.

The Star spoke with the organizer, PCSS English teacher Trena Irving, during the walk.

She鈥檚 been organizing the event for about 15 years.

Irving teaches English, among other subjects, at PCSS.

鈥淚 get my English class to write letters to local businesses and get them to sponsor the run with food and drink and then we sell the food and drink at lunch time and all the fundraising goes to the Terry Fox Foundation. And if we don鈥檛 quite make a $1,000, then I make sure I top it up, because cancer鈥檚 been rampant in my family, like, everybody鈥檚 had it. So, yeah, this is an important cause.鈥�

Irving said she watched legendary Canadian cancer fundraiser Terry Fox on TV.

鈥淲e drove across Canada because we moved to Ontario. That鈥檚 when he died, and I remember stopping in Thunder Bay and seeing the statue and just bawling my eyes out, like, with the rest of Canadians, so, an important event to me.鈥�

Irving estimated between 200 to 300 students participated in the run/walk.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the whole school but sometimes some people don鈥檛 come, of course.鈥�

Save On Foods, Dominos Pizza, Real Canadian Superstore and Panagos Pizza sponsored the run/walk this year.

鈥淭hese local businesses have sponsored our school run over the past several years, including this year, and they are the key to us being able to make our $1,000 donation goal,鈥� related Irving.

鈥淭hey have been very, very supportive. I can鈥檛 say enough good about that cause there鈥檚 no way we would make $1,000 without their support.鈥�

Irving said for the students, writing the letters is a real life experience of getting sponsorships.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty cool.鈥�

As for how it came about, Irving said her predecessor, Gail Chase, organized the Toonie for Terry fundraiser.

鈥淚 took over her job, so she was like, 鈥榊ou should keep this going鈥�, so I did that, as well as the food, but now I鈥檓 just kind of saying to teachers, 鈥業f you can collect donations鈥�, and then we do the food at lunchtime.

鈥淚t鈥檚 nice for the kids, sort of relaxing to go around with their friends, listen to some music, chat.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if any of them fully appreciate what Terry Fox did, but I was showing my Grade 8鈥檚 today a bit of a video about his life story and it鈥檚 absolutely incredible. I鈥檝e driven across Canada. I couldn鈥檛 imagine riding my bike across Canada, much less running on one leg. And he made it a big chunk of the way. Cause Ontario鈥檚 huge, right? It鈥檚 pretty incredible.鈥�

Irving, also a prominent sports coach in the community, described how the various activities she鈥檚 involved in are related to the fight against cancer.

鈥淚鈥檓 very involved with kids because I like to keep kids out of behaviours that I feel cause cancer 鈥� vaping, smoking, drugs, drinking. I live very clean, so I try to promote that. Just try to get kids to have fun doing something where they鈥檙e pushing themselves and getting lots of oxygen because bodies can鈥檛 really have cancer running through them with oxygen. It鈥檚 sort of like, oxygen helps with that.鈥�

Irving agreed that cancer is one of those things that touches everybody鈥檚 lives, including her own.

鈥淢y mom had cancer when I was in Grade 7. She didn鈥檛 pass away from it, but it was really scary, and then my dad died of cancer. My mom, both of her parents died of cancer.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to watch somebody going through it.鈥�

Irving thinks it鈥檚 good to do regular prevention of common cancers, such as breast and prostrate cancer.

Irving encourages all Yukon schools to do a run, get students involved in fundraising and raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation, as it鈥檚 very rewarding to give a sizeable donation each year in 聽the name of Terry Fox.

As for how much was raised, at last count it was said to be at $1200.00, but with a little more money to come in, it was estimated in the聽end $1300.00 will have been raised.