Edmonton students fight tired eyes and legs to help disaster relief charity

EDMONTON – Edmonton high school students are losing sleep and calories Friday and Saturday for charity.

Strathcona High School is holding its annual 24-hour bike-a-thon, which raises money for a local or international charity. This year the school selected ShelterBox Canada. The charity provides relief boxes to people in disaster zones. Each relief box costs approximately $1,200 to be put together, packed and shipped.

The goal this year is to raise $400,000, which would bring the event’s three-year total to over $1 million.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of fundraisers, nothing on this scale,” ShelterBox representative Andre Bloemink said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I've been involved in a lot of fundraisers, nothing on this scale," ShelterBox representative Andre Bloemink said.

“To see the totals that they’re coming up with now, to see the engagement first-hand is indescribable.”

Twelve hundred students began biking Friday at 9 a.m. and will continue until 9 a.m. Saturday. The students are in teams of 10, with the participants rotating on their bike every 30 minutes.

“They have to keep their stationary bikes going for 24 hours. They’ve built these little living rooms and they have costumes. It’s kind of like they’re moving to college for 24 hours,” Scona leadership program coordinator Tom Yonge said.

The school has organized events such as trips to the Telus World of Science and escape rooms to keep the students motivated. Events such as an outdoor dance and workshops will also keep enthusiasm high.

The students and staff admit the event is challenging but will be rewarding when it’s over.

“When you have mass involvement, it means mass impact,” student Kiera Gratton said. “Having so many people do this, even if everyone just raises the minimum, it’s such an impact for ShelterBox. It helps so many people in disaster.”

“It’s not easy to organize this, it’s not easy to put your team together either, but at the end you get that kind of glow inside. I think that’s what these kids are addicted to – that and the feeling of community that they get,” Yonge added.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's not easy to organize this, it's not easy to put your team together either, but at the end you get that kind of glow inside. I think that's what these kids are addicted to - that and the feeling of community that they get," Yonge added.

It was a lengthy process to decide which organization to support. ShelterBox was picked after a school vote.