One of the things I really like and respect about the people who work at Phantom Screens is their commitment to community involvement. In all kinds of ways they give back. Sure we have corporate charities like World Vision and the Cyrus Centre, but that isn’t all the folks here do. I’d like to tell you about the most recent fundraising that a team of people at Phantom have taken part in. It’s a pretty impressive cycling feat!
Val our receptionist, Paul our Senior Marketing Manager, Brent our Product Manager and Andrew our Senior Finance Manager are all members of the Dark Horse Riders team that took part in the Ride to Conquer Cancer this weekend. The team raised over $70,000 in total.
The sponsored ride raises money for the BC Cancer Foundation and is an amazing, limb-stretching, saddle sore inducing, 200 km plus ride from Vancouver, BC to Seattle, WA to raise money and awareness for life-saving research and enhancements to care for cancer patients in British Columbia.
The riders were supported by hundreds of Volunteers and Crew Members, providing meals, water and snack stops, gear transport, portable restrooms, safety on the course, comprehensive medical services and an overnight campsite complete with tents, hot showers and entertainment. It’s quite the event!
The team at the end of their very long ride from Vancouver to Seattle
And it is an extraordinary fundraiser. To date, the event has helped raise $39.1 million. Last year over 3,000 Riders raised $11.2 million.
The statistics about cancer in our province are pretty stark: one in three British Columbians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Some of our riders have seen first-hand what cancer can do – to themselves, to their families and to their friends. Some ride in memory of others and some ride because they’ve survived. Each and every one has a compelling, personal story that involves cancer. Each and every one of them rides because they want to accelerate the conquest of cancer.
Thank you to them for their amazing riding efforts. Val, Paul, Brent, Andrew and all the rest of the Dark Horse Riders team, we salute you!
Val Anderson rode for her inspirational cousin Paul (Paul is married to Meagan, who is one of Phantom’s technical team). Paul is still fighting and winning his battle against lung cancer.
This is Paul Ackah-Sanzah’s third Ride to Conquer Cancer. He says: “I have seen first-hand some of the benefits of the research and drugs that have been developed as a result of the funds that I’ve been a part of raising and this only makes me want to do more.”
Brent Foster took the challenge to do the ride to support his friends and colleagues who have been touched by cancer in their lives. This was the first ride for Brent, but he made it successfully and unscathed.
Although a survivor of cancer, Andrew Matheson rode in memory of his father, James, who succumbed to prostate cancer in late 2011. He says: “It is thanks to past research that I have been fortunate in my personal battle against this disease. I have also met many people who have also been successful or who are still fighting, and in many cases they are successful because of the huge strides that are being made in understanding and developing new treatments for the disease.”
