Mac Olsen
Express Staff
@SmokyRiverExprs
Students at Ecole Routhier have taken up the challenge of raising $12,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Jenna Delaney, who works for the foundation, was at the school in the afternoon of May 11.
Delaney explained the fundraiser to the students and also highlighted the importance of taking good care of their hearts.
“It’s a good fundraiser,” she says.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Jump Rope for Heart and, to date, Ecole Routhier has raised $123,671 for the cause.
Delaney also noted that the students can receive prizes for certain levels of fundraising. She also showed a video of a boy who had a heart defect and had surgery. It was meant to impress upon the students the importance of helping other children in need.
Later, Delaney had six students demonstrate their skipping skills and the other students cheered them on.
Then two of the students competed against two teachers to see who could skip the most in 30 seconds.
The students have until May 26 to complete their fundraising.
Another assembly will be held that afternoon, where it will be announced how much they raised as a school. Look for an updated story in a future edition of the Express.
About the Heart and Stroke Foundation
For more than 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others. You’ll probably run into someone today who is alive and well thanks to the countless Canadians who have supported our cause with their time and donations.
It could be the young boy you pass on the street whose heart defect was successfully mended thanks to life-saving research. Or the woman at the coffee shop whose stroke was treated with a clot-busting drug. Or the father whose hockey teammates saved his life with CPR.
Our progress is real. The death rate from heart disease and stroke has declined more than 75 per cent over the past six decades.
