Peterborough-area cross-country skiers have raised just over $18,000 for six local organizations that protect natural spaces and support marginalized communities.
The Kawartha Nordic ComPassion Relay was held last Saturday (January 31) at the Kawartha Nordic Ski Club, located off Highway 28 just north of Haultain in North Kawartha Township. The non-competitive ski relay saw solo participants and teams of friends, families, and co-workers choose from 3 km, 7 km, or 12 km and ski for as long as six hours.
Since it was first organized in 2022 by John Hauser, an employee of Peterborough outdoor gear retailer Wild Rock Outfitters and a board member of Kawartha Nordic Ski Club, the annual ski relay has raised more than $80,000 for local charities in the Peterborough area.
The inaugural event was a 24-hour ski marathon for mental health. In 2023, it became an eight-hour ski relay and raised funds for a supportive housing project of the Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge, with the 2024 event raising funds for YES Shelter for Youth and Families.
In 2025, the event began raising funds for the ComPassion Project, created by Wild Rock co-founder Kieran Andrews with the aim of helping organizations focused on environmental stewardship and social change.
“The ComPassion Relay is all about community,” says Hauser in a media release from the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough. “We’re supporting local organizations doing much-needed work in the Peterborough area. It’s inspiring to see how much folks of all ages care for our community — it’s a reminder that good things are happening.”
An endowment fund administered by the foundation in partnership with Wild Rock, the ComPassion Project supports YES Shelter for Youth & Families, Peterborough Trailbuilders Association, Peterborough Bicycle Advisory Committee, Kawartha Land Trust, Fourcast Addiction Services, and One City Peterborough
Andrews says the Kawartha Nordic ComPassion Relay is “exactly what we had in mind when we first envisioned the ComPassion Project.”
“This grassroots event is one of our favourite fundraisers,” Andrews says. “It brings together people of all ages who push themselves, have fun, and support the community.”
One of the goals of the ComPassion Project is to strengthen community recreation and access to the outdoors. Last year, project funding helped the Peterborough Trailbuilders purchase a Snowdog machine to help groom winter trails for fat biking, improving trail quality and accessibility after heavy snowfalls.
“We couldn’t be more honoured to be chosen as one of the organizations the ComPassion Project supports,” says Peterborough Trailbuilders president Paul Wilkinson.
The support of the ComPassion Project is also important for social services like One City Peterborough, according to the organization’s executive director Tammy Kuehne, particularly during this year’s “brutally cold winter.”
“For our folks who are unhoused, it is almost unbearable,” Kuehne says. “With our overnight shelter being full each night, this grant allowed us to increase our evening emergency outreach, bringing hot drinks, clothing, and survival gear to individuals living rough. It can be the difference between hypothermia and managing. We are truly, truly thankful to the ComPassion project.”
The $18,000 raised by the Kawartha Nordic ComPassion Relay is on top of more than $39,000 donated to the ComPassion Project by community members through a number of initiatives held throughout late fall.
That included $36,000 raised last November when Andrews matched donations up to $20,000 made to the ComPassion Project in honour of his late father Chris. With more than 70 individual donations and his matching donations, a total of $36,000 was raised.
Donations to the ComPassion Project can be made at any time through CanadaHelps at cfgp.ca/project/compassion-project/.
With files by Megan Gallant.
