Photo credit: The Terry Fox Foundation

USask’s Calgary hub hosts national campaign launch

Terry Fox Foundation raising funds for cancer research

By John Grainger

The story of Canadian icon Terry Fox has long been a source of great inspiration to the chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan and her family.

When the opportunity to have USask participate in a $150-million national fundraising campaign with the Terry Fox Foundation, USask Chancellor Grit McCreath (BEd’91) saw a perfect fit.

“Our university is one of the net benefactors of this campaign,” McCreath says, adding that the foundation will disperse funds to schools that are actively conducting research into the treatment of cancer.

“We organized a launch for this campaign at the end of October at our Calgary USask hub and it was a great event for us.”

“There were a number of people from the University of Calgary there and a good number of USask alumni. The event was so well attended,” McCreath says, who was accompanied by USask’s Cheryl Hamelin, vice-president university relations as host of the event which attracted about 150 people.

McCreath’s family has a strong attachment to the memory of Terry Fox by participating in every Terry Fox Run that has been held.

In fact, McCreath’s son James came up with an idea which evolved into a book called Forever Terry: A Legacy of Letters, which includes memories of 40 high-profile Canadians and the impact Terry Fox had on their lives.

Having USask host the foundation’s launch in Calgary was an easy decision, McCreath says.

“Terry Fox has always been a very inspirational part of our family,” says McCreath. “When the boys were young, and they had to do an essay for school, it was always talked about Terry being their hero.”


For more on the Foundation, go to https://www.cbc.ca.