THUNDER BAY — The Take it in Strides run has been shining a light on suicide prevention for years, with organizers intending to expand their reach this year.
Last year the event raised $49,550 for the Canadian Mental Health Association and Children’s Centre Foundation in Thunder Bay.
The 2025 Take it int Strides campaign kicks of on Friday with a "glow run" at waterfront.
“We’re inviting everyone to glow the distance with us,” said Connor Remus, co-founder of Take it in Strides.
Meeting up at 7:30 p.m. for an 8 p.m. start time, runners are encouraged to wear glow-in-the-dark accessories for the 4.2 km evening run.
“It’s a chance to light up the night and conversation around mental health. It’s also a way to keep the energy going and remind people that the conversation and support continues beyond a single day,” he said in a media release.
Confederation College business and marketing students announced the new initiative. The main event, the 2025 Take it in Strides run, is set to take place Sept. 7 at Boulevard Lake.
The “main thing that we want everyone to take home from this event is the reality that . . . you might be unaware to the struggles that other people around you are facing," said Remus.
“I was that person, I lost a loved one without any sort of idea of what the struggles he was going through."
It was the loss of Remus' close friend, Joey, that motivated him to create the event.
"Just because you haven't faced it yourself personally, doesn't mean that those struggles aren’t being put on other people that are very close to you, and you wouldn't know unless you had that conversation.
“The whole idea is to have an event that breaks the stigma. This idea of breaking the stigma is to have the conversation, not be afraid to check in with your friends and family once in a while and just say, ‘hey, how are you doing? How are you doing physically, but how are you doing mentally?’”
Makenna Christie, second year business marketing student at Confederation College, said it was great for the students to get some practical work under their belts in promoting and organizing the event.
“For (the glow run), we've totally done it from start to finish. We've designed all of the aspects like the logos, we did the race roster website, we designed the time, the place, honestly, pretty much everything for it,” she said.
Christie said mental health is a very important topic.
“Being involved with Take it in Strides is very impactful to me and to my group members.
“I went to high school with someone who we lost a suicide and it was a very emotional time for everybody. You don't really know what to do or what to say and I think getting support for this and helping everybody keep the conversation going and trying to break the stigma is very helpful,” she said.
Diane Walker, CEO at Children's Centre Thunder Bay said being part of this event has been a powerful experience.
“As I often say, it integrates or mixes together mental health and physical health. All of us are touched by suicide at some points in our life," she said. “I feel honoured as an organization to be supported by the funds that are raised and to be having conversations about mental health.”
Walker said the funds the Children’s Centre received will support the Youth Wellness Hub, The Jaida Project and outreach done by the centre itself.
“I think all people at different points in their lives have been impacted by mental health, and one of the things we can do for ourselves is be physically healthy.
“The intersection of this run, Take it in Strides, and mental health is just so obvious to me because when we are active and physically healthy our mental health is better.”
Tiffany Stubbings, acting CEO at the Canadian Mental Health Association of Thunder Bay, said the organization has been part of the event since its inauguration.
“To have Connor and his team putting on an event like this is just incredible. It really is an honour that his committee has selected CMHA to be one of the recipients."
The money Canadian Mental Health Association receives will go toward iniatives like their applied suicide intervention skills training, mental health works and talk today programs.
Stubbings said this type of event allows space for people to have conversations about mental health.
“I think that for far too long, it was something that was kept hidden or people didn't talk about. There's a lot of shame and a lot of stigma attached to having mental health struggles.
"The more events like this happen, the more it creates space to have those conversations and we reach a broader audience of people to be able to say that we can talk about this and it's OK and you're not the only one experiencing this and you're not alone in in dealing with this,” she said.
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