Salmon Arm鈥檚 unstoppable Jack McNeil, 10, has parlayed his original goal of raising $1,000 for cancer research into nearly $10,000 in what became a biathlon event.
After hitting the road last November, Jack recently hit the pool to swim 2.5 kilometres to continue his fundraising efforts for the BC Cancer Foundation (BCCF).
Inspired by Terry Fox, the Grade 5 Bastion Elementary student ran from Salmon Arm to Enderby over two days last November and managed to get $1,295 in pledges. Through a link on the BCCF website, donations to Jack鈥檚 initiative quickly reached over $7,000, which encouraged him to keep going.
鈥淩ight after we completed the run, when he made it to, I think it was $7,200, he was like 鈥榳ow, that鈥檚 almost $10,000... I wonder if I could get to $10,000鈥�,鈥� mom Lana McNeil explained of Jack鈥檚 new goal, which she encouraged him to pursue.
While Jack proposed they do another run, she steered him in another direction and suggested instead doing a swim as he鈥檚 a member of the Columbia Shuswap Selkirks Swim Club. As the older levels sometimes swim across the two to three kilometre channel, they took that idea indoors to the pool with help from coach Greg Perkins. That translated to Jack swimming 2.5 kilometres, or 100 lengths of the public pool, on Saturday, March 1 where it only took him 1.5 hours to complete despite the coach anticipating two to three. McNeil attributed that to not only his swim training, but also the solid plan Perkins had in place that would utilize different swimming strokes and styles.
Jack also had the support of some senior Selkirks boys who showed up at the pool to cheer him on, and even jumped in at the end to support him in his last few laps.
Through his efforts, Jack is now just $400 short of his goal at $9,560, with the donation page through the BC Cancer Foundation remaining open until he crosses that finish line.
The young philanthropist is already talking about doing something again this year and while there are no firm plans yet, McNeil said a few of Jack鈥檚 friends would be interested in running as well if he were to pursue that again.
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite amazing the support, and the drum up of community acknowledgement with it,鈥� she said of the momentum he鈥檚 created. 鈥淎nd people that are wanting to jump onboard, it鈥檚 really quite amazing.鈥�
While Jack is looking ahead to other initiatives, his 8-year-old sister Charlotte is now similarly inspired 鈥渢o do something that will give back to the community and help raise money.鈥� As with her brother, nothing is confirmed yet, but the family is exploring options with her love of animals and the environment.
鈥淗e has really enjoyed helping people,鈥� McNeil said, adding his efforts have had a greater influence of which she and his dad Murray are very proud. 鈥淚t鈥檚 had a wonderful ripple effect... it鈥檚 just been tear-jerking in some instances. It鈥檚 just that little ripple effect, it鈥檚 just that thought that he鈥檚 put into people鈥檚 minds about what he鈥檚 doing... even that has been impressive.鈥�
鈥淎 huge thanks to all of the community supporters and to all of our friends,鈥� McNeil added of the response they鈥檝e gotten, from contributions to online encouragement and appreciation to Jack himself. 鈥淭he amount of support we鈥檝e gotten has just been unreal, just amazing.鈥�
