The sixth annual Colour Festival Fun Run in support of Beads of Courage took place at Saskatoon’s Lakeview Park on Sunday.
The program gives beads to children coping with serious illnesses, allowing them to record, own and tell their story of courage.
“Everyone that comes wears a white shirt and collects lots of beautiful colour to help encourage and support all the different kids on the program here in Saskatchewan,” fun run co-founder Tara Johnson said.
The annual event raised $21,000, which funds the Beads of Courage program for the entire year in hospitals across the province.
“They are a permanent marker of that child’s strength and courage,” Johnson said.
Bennett Libke, 4, has been collecting beads since October 2017, when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy and has three full necklaces and is starting on his fourth.
“He’s been very strong and brave,” Bennett’s mother Madeleine Libke said. “He’s now called Bennett the brave.”
“It makes the appointment better; it makes the hospital stay better,” Madeleine said. “When the bead cart comes into his room and he gets to pick all his beads.”
More than 300 people participated in the annual fun run.