MOOSOMIN — Tracy and Carmelle Boutin raised $3,120.68 through fundraising for this year’s Down Syndrome Walk in Moosomin, on Saturday, June 17, and placed third in Canada’s overall fundraising team leaderboard.
In hopes of spreading awareness about the cause locally, this was the first year the mother and daughter hosted a walk in Moosomin.
“We didn’t expect to raise that much, I thought $1,000 would be good. It’s not all from our community, but most of it is,” said Tracy.
Carmelle said she was surprised their team came third in raising the most money for the cause in all of Canada.
Tracy spoke about why they chose to host a walk locally.
“The difference is we knew people here rather than being in the city. The walk itself, we just did it by ourselves when we were there, and when we did it here it was with people we knew, which was good,” Tracy said.
Tracy said the main goal of the fundraiser was to spread awareness about Down Syndrome and that Down Syndrome lives matter across Canada.
“It was good to promote the cause in Moosomin. The people that I think wanted to be there were there,” she said.
“I think it made everyone want to talk. There were some people that I wasn’t expecting who showed up, it was good.
About 30 people from the community came out to support the cause and participate in the walk that went around the town.
At the event, Carmelle thanked everyone who came out.
“Thank you all for coming out, it means a lot to me that you all came out to show your support for people like me born with Down Syndrome across Canada,” Carmelle said.
“I’m doing this for me, my community and for the surrounding communities because inclusion matters everywhere.”
Tracy said they hope to make the walk an annual event.
“Some people were asking if we were going to do this again next year, I thought maybe we should do it for one more year and we’ll see how it goes,” she said.
