The 2023 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival has raised $290,025.18 for cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC), surpassing their goal for the second year in a row.
Volunteers from the festival’s organizing committee and the Survivors Abreast Dragon Boat Team presented the donation to PRHC Foundation representatives on Wednesday (October 11) at the T-wharf on Little Lake, the site of the annual festival.
This year’s fundraising goal was $205,000.18 — an amount that reflects the estimated two out of five Canadians who will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime and the one in eight women will develop breast cancer. That goal was surpassed the day before race day on June 10, and this year’s total exceeds last year’s donation of $202,268.41 by almost $90,000.
“When it gets really busy and there is still so much work to do, I often reflect on why we do this year after year,” says Michelle Thornton, the festival’s chair and a member of the Survivors Abreast Dragon Boat Team, in a media release. “It’s because we make a difference. We make a real difference in someone’s life. We might not even know that someone, but that doesn’t matter. Because of us, someone won’t have to travel to receive their treatments, or someone will be diagnosed early and a life will be saved.”
Since the festival was first launched in June 2001 as Liberty Mutual’s “Day on the Water”, becoming Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival the following year, it has raised more than $4.2 million for breast cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment in the Peterborough region.
“The number of patients from Peterborough and the surrounding area who rely on PRHC for cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment continues to climb,” says PRHC Foundation president and CEO Lesley Heighway, adding that the 2023 donation by the festival will allow the regional hospital to invest in new state-of-the-art technology to serve more cancer patients, support earlier cancer diagnosis, and provide safer and more effective treatments.
Sponsors cover the cost of hosting the event so that 100 per cent of the money raised can be donated to the PRHC Foundation, in particular Kawartha Credit Union, which has been the festival’s presenting sponsor every year since 2001.
“At Kawartha Credit Union, care for others is one of our core values and we are passionate about contributing to the well-being of the communities we serve,” says Kawartha Credit Union president and CEO Norah McCarthy. “Being the platinum sponsor of Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival allows us to provide financial support while also participating in a fun event that unites Peterborough and our surrounding areas in a common goal to improve local health care resources.”
Planning for next year’s festival, which will take place on June 8, will begin soon. Anyone wishing to volunteer their time and skills can email Thornton at michellethornton.365@gmail.com.
“As with most successful events, our festival thrives because of a community-driven spirit and like-minded people,” Thornton says. “The support from the community is phenomenal and I can’t adequately express my gratitude or how proud I am of our planning committee and the effort they put in to making the event what it is.”
