Gutsy Walks will be happening all over Canada this year, as people come together to raise awareness and donations in order to find a cure for Crohn's and Colitis Disease.
For one family that has strong roots in the southeast, the Gutsy Walk in Swift Current on June 3 will be an important event.
Nathan Stang, who used to live in Estevan but now resides in Swift Current, is the captain of the the team that will walking called Emily’s Got Guts.
His daughter Emily has Crohn's disease and he, his wife April and the whole family have been involved with Crohn's and Colitis Canada for some time, working towards raising money and awareness in hope of finding a cure for Crohn's and Colitis.
“I really think these Gutsy Walks and Crohn's and Colitis Canada brings people together and raises awareness for the disease. Every time we host these Gutsy Walks we get one step closer to finding a cure for the disease,” said Nathan Stang when interviewed by Lifestyles.
“I got involved with the Gutsy Walk a few years ago when me and my wife found that our daughter had the disease. It was a really heartbreaking moment for us but I know a cure is out there,” continued Stang.
This year Stang and his wife are captains instead of just walkers in the event. Stang noted that last year’s captain has stepped down.
“Running our own team is difficult because me and my wife both work a lot but our last team captain had stepped down this year, so I took up the torch and I can’t wait till June to get out and raise some money,” said Stang.
Donations can be collected in many ways for Crohn's and Colitis Canada and that lead to their success with raising money over the years.
“Each team is given their own personal fundraising website from Crohn's and Colitis Canada, and from there, they can raise donations online,” said Stang. “Donations can be collected in a number of ways, even going to door to door is an option, but I have been finding that as long as people know we exist and we need their help, we find that the donations come flooding in.”
Joining up with Crohn's and Colitis Canada and helping with the fight for a cure for the disease is not very difficult for others, he said.
“You can just go online and search Gutsy Walk, and join up from there. It’s normally ran on a team basis. You might end up joining a team but I believe they also take people that just want to be apart of the walk,” said Stang.
“When you collect your team members and register with Crohn's and Colitis Canada, you then fundraise as much as you can up until the day of the walk. We have multiple teams at each location and whoever wants can enter a team. Mine is comprised of 12 people but the size varies.”
The Emily’s Got Guts team is among the featured teams for this year’s Gutsy Walk. In a biography on the Gutsy Walk website, they said they formed the team in 2016.
“The support we received from our family and friends that year was overwhelming and this compelled us to raise our goal for 2017 in a big way,” the family wrote. “We reached out to our supporters and together formed a team consisting of over 30 people who not only care for Emily as much as we do but are also just as motivated to raise money.”
Last year the team, which had 20 members, raised $28,000.
“Although our team members have proven to be great at fundraising, they are much more than that to us. They are Emily's support system throughout the entire year in her daily life and everything we go through as a family.”
Emily’s grandmother Donalda Penley, who resides in Torquay, is organizing the Gramma’s Flipping Pancake Breakfast on April 14 at Torquay’s Trinity Lutheran Church, starting at 8 a.m. The pancakes will be served to 1 p.m. and a bake sale and silent auction will continue until 2 p.m.
