A Kingston couple wrapped up their three-year canoe journey across Canada on Thursday afternoon.
Canoe for Change was a fundraiser for Loving Spoonful, a charitable organization in Kingston that works to promote food security in the area.
Carol VandenEngel and Glenn Green paddled their way to the Cataraqui Canoe Club on Thursday to end their journey. Around 20 family members, friends and supporters were on hand to welcome the couple.
“I feel a great sense of accomplishment and I’ve been inspired and enriched by all the Canadians that we’ve met across Canada,” VandenEngel said.
The pair began their trip in 2017 when they paddled from Ottawa to Sydney, N.S. The second year, the coupled canoed from Vancouver, B.C., to Thunder Bay, Ont. This year, Green and VandenEngel’s journey took them from Thunder Bay to Ottawa and back to Kingston.
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“I can drop in every province and say I had a special memory in every province,” Green said.
Mara Shaw, executive director of Loving Spoonful, says Canoe for Change has helped bring awareness to the charity’s needs.
“They had campfires with people every night while they were travelling the country and were talking about food security,” Shaw said. “It’s a huge issue in Canada, with almost two million Canadians wondering how to feed their families on a consistent basis.”
The Kingston couple set a fundraising goal of $25,000 and ended their journey about $2,000 short of that mark.