With the holidays behind us, many of us are embracing the New Year with fresh exercise and health goals. One way of ensuring we stay active and fit during the winter months is to train for an outdoor event that will take place when the warmer weather arrives. The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Foundation is encouraging its supporters to once again train for the Scotiabank Charity Challenge through its annual Run For A Reason initiative.

The Scotiabank Charity Challenge organizes the running event, and invites a host of charities to take part, encouraging runners and walkers to raise funds for a cause close to them. The event takes place at Parc Jean Drapeau over the last weekend in April, with shorter distances – from 1 km, 5 km and 10 km – held on Saturday April 25, and the half-marathon on Sunday April 26, 2020.

Dozens of volunteers, community members, physicians, researchers, and staff from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) took part in the 2019 Scotiabank Charity Challenge as part of the MUHC Foundation’s Run for a Reason initiative, raising a total of $100,000 for the hospital.

“It’s a wonderful way for patients, staff and physicians to participate in a fun family event together and help the clinical team that has had the most impact on their health,” says Julie Quenneville, MUHC Foundation President, who runs in the race every year with her two children. “This year, our Foundation’s Dream Big team is participating in support the MUHC Legacy and Innovation Fund, which supports research projects, excellence and recruitment of top talent.”

Funds raised through Run for a Reason support world-class patient care, the purchase of new state-of-the-art equipment, and innovative research at the MUHC. Every dollar raised stays right here in our community and supports the priorities that matter most to our community.

Last year’s top fundraising teams were the MUHC’s Cancer Therapeutics team and community volunteer Geneviève Dubé and her twin teenage sons Nicolas and Olivier, who ran for cancer research. Dubé lost her husband Michel Lessard to leukemia in June 2018, and she made a commitment to honour her husband’s memory by fundraising for cancer research through Run for a Reason. Geneviève and Nicolas and Olivier ran the 5-kilometre race together.

“Doing this run together was encouraging for us; it’s to help support research. Our dad couldn’t be saved, but maybe others will be,” says Olivier.

So, lace up your sneakers and fundraise through Run For A Reason. Donations to support the MUHC make the difference between the excellent care our passionate staff strive to provide and their ability to go above and beyond the call of duty. With your generosity, only the MUHC Foundation can fund this difference.

By registering to run or walk, you can create your own fundraising page and build your own online fundraising effort – reaching out to colleagues, friends and family. It’s an easy way to drive supporters to a donation page that you’ve personalized with images and stories about the cause most meaningful to you.

Every day at the MUHC, thousands of women and men report to work with a mission – to reduce suffering and pain, and to help our families live better and longer lives. And, just as importantly, to revolutionize diagnoses, prevention and cures that will transform lives, here at home and throughout the world.

Anyone who has registered to take part in the MUHC Foundation’s Run For A Reason by January 22, 2020 will be entered in a draw to win 2 tickets to a Canadiens game!

Register now: https://www.muhcfoundation.com/event/run2020/