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First responders earn Cops for Cancer stripes
September 7, 2022 By Blue Line Staff / Canadian Cancer Society
Sept. 7, 2022, Abbotsford, B.C. – For the past eight months, 35 law enforcement and emergency services personnel have taken part in an extensive training program, riding thousands of kilometres and raising over $250,000 for the upcoming Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley sponsored by Applewood Auto Group. At the jersey presentation, the committed riders will be presented the iconic red Cops for Cancer Tour jersey to officially mark the completion of the training phase of their journey.
A partnership between The Canadian Cancer Society and local first responders aimed at changing the future of childhood cancer, the fundraising initiative is a 800-km cycling tour across the Fraser Valley taking place later this month.
Cops for Cancer first began in 1994, when Sergeant Gary Goulet of the Edmonton Police Service met Lyle Jorgenson, a then 5-year-old boy who had cancer. Goulet requested the meeting after learning that Lyle was being ridiculed at school because of his hair loss due to chemotherapy. Goulet was so moved by the boy’s story that he rallied his colleagues to shave their heads in solidarity. In 1997, the first Cops for Cancer cycling event, Tour de Rock, launched with a dozen police officers cycling from one end of Vancouver Island to the other. Today, 25 years later, Cops for Cancer has evolved across the country including four cycling tours in BC. Hundreds of law enforcement and emergency services personnel have raised nearly $50 million through Cops for Cancer events.
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