Walk to Fight Women’s Cancers

On Sunday, the Yamaska Valley Optimist Club will host the 18th edition of the Walk to Fight Women’s Cancers. The event has come a long way over the years, and hopes to hit the $1 million fundraising mark at the upcoming walk. The event, which starts and finishes at the Brome Lake Community Centre, is a family (and pet) friendly walk ranging from five to 10 km through the streets of Knowlton. The scheduled start time is 9:30 a.m. with a group of brave cancer survivors leading the pack. In 2002, Janet Gibbons, Pat Duncan and Jo Anne Lavallee organized the first walk. Around 200 men, women and children took part in the Breast Cancer Walk-Run fundraiser in Knowlton, raising an impressive $20,000 for research into the leading killer of women between the ages of 35 and 55. The following year, organizers passed the torch on to the Yamaska Valley Optimist Club (YMO). It was cold, windy and raining for Cancer Walk 2003, but the enthusiasm of 199 walkers and over 40 volunteers could not be dampened. The event raised close to $15,000, which was donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Society (80 per cent) and the Optimist International Childhood Cancer Foundation (the remaining 20 per cent). See full story in the Oct. 1 edition of the Brome County News.