A Saint John charity that helps people through grief and loss is preparing for its biggest fundraiser.
The Jason Zelward Physical Challenge takes place at Simonds High School on Sunday afternoon.
Jamie Godfrey, CEO of the Compassionate Grief Centre, said the money will go toward supporting their programming.
“The Compassionate Grief Centre always offers low to no-cost programs and we can’t do that without the support of our community,” said Godfrey.
“People who are grieving that really don’t have the means to pay or at least the significant amount that they may need to pay that we want to be able to help everybody going through the mental health journey.”
Now in its fifth year, the annual event is named after Jason Zelward, an army major who died of cancer in 2018 at age 35.
Godfrey, who became close to Zelward’s family following his passing, said they thought this would be a great way to keep his memory alive.
“The washer toss tournament and the tug of war is exactly what Jason would have loved had he been alive,” she said.
The challenge has raised about $30,000 for the centre over the past four years. This year, they are aiming to raise $40,000.
“Our fingers are crossed because we have a lot of teams that are doing some fundraising for us and we just don’t know exactly what they’re raising,” said Godfrey.
Scotiabank is this year’s presenting sponsor and Fundy Funeral Home is matching all donations up to $5,000.
This year’s honorary family is Brian McLeod in honour of his wife, Ina, who died in October 2021 at the age of 69 following a lengthy illness.
“Brian McLeod is one of the most amazing humans that we have here at the Compassionate Grief Center. We’ve helped him significantly and he has helped us,” said Godfrey.
“The memory of his wife is such an absolutely huge part of his drive to do things for the organization that we could not have picked a better honorary family this year.”
Registration for the event is open until the end of the week. Teams of five adults have a chance to compete in the tug of war and teams of two will compete in the washer toss tournament.
