100% OF FUNDS RAISED WILL BE DONATED TO THE CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY 

IN HONOUR PETE AND FIREFIGHTER RELATED CANCER 

INFORMATION

SUNDAY AUGUST 9TH 

AT THE KING ST. FIRE HALL 

10:00AM-1:00PM 

FAMILIES ARE ASKED TO RAISE A MINIMUM OF $10.00 PER FAMILY 

(DONATION SHEETS CAN BE OBTAINED FROM PAULA OR CHERI) 

When they say everyone is affected by cancer you have no idea until doing something like this how true that statement is.   The reason for this is because people go out of their way to talk to you about it.  People talk to you about their personal battles and the battles of loved ones and how it changed them.  

Soon we will be posting a video done by Steve Davis of Davis Media from our finale of the St. John’s event.  This video will include all our speeches and the messages we tried to get out across Canada.  We are proud that we raised over $100 000, but we are most proud that we were able to touch people’s lives, spread the messages of Typically Canadian and hopefully help open people’s eyes to the need to get out and make a difference. 

I talk about what “we” did and you may be thinking of just the cyclists and the RV support Driver.  But the 2008 Tribute Tour was fueled and successful because of the support of a team.  One of the most important aspects were our sponsors, which included the brotherhood and sisterhood of firefighters across Canada.   Firefighters are affected by cancer at a greater level because of exposures in the workplace.  Firefighters became our presenting sponsors and our biggest fundraisers because of this connection and the fact that firefighters are dedicated to making a difference and supporting their community.      We hope to work with Firefighters again next year to keep the Tribute alive and organize a relay ride across Canada.  If interested in getting involved, please contact us through the website. 

Next we want to thank the rest of our sponsors and our community directors who without their support, we could never have put this project together.  We want to thank some of the amazing Canadians who we met at each on of our stops who went out of their way to support us.  We want to thank our families who supported us from the start and were really the driving force behind putting this together.  For me personally, my parents showed me so much support and guidance.  My Dad dedicated a year to organizing the Firefighter connection, while my Mom worked full time helping us develop the project and the media strategy across Canada.  My Mom’s name can be associated with over $50 000 in fundraising and we couldn’t have done it without their support and I love them both a lot.  There was a lot of passion and drive behind this project and as you can see the Typically Canadian Team was huge and dedicated to making a difference.  The reason there was so much passion and dedication was because of the people who inspired us to start the tour and then the people we met along the way. 

Two people who will stand out in our minds forever, two people who we love a lot and mean the world to us were probably our biggest inspirations.  These two men, John Wagontall (Lethbridge Firefighter) and Gary Harris (Halifax Firefighter), are both battling cancer that was contracted because of exposures they faced on the job.  John Wagontall cycled across Canada in 2006 to raise awareness among firefighters to get tested for prostate cancer and it was amazing because all across the country everyone remembered John and it showed how extremely successful his Cycle for Life was.  We contacted John in the fall of 2007 and he was a huge help in the planning of our trip, but what helped the most was his inspiration and his friendship.  Gary and his wife Anne contacted us as we were cycling across Canada because they had read an article in the International Firefighter.  Gary and Anne were instrumental in getting presumptive legislation passed in Nova Scotia and Gary continues to be passionate about making a difference.  This was proven when Gary and Derek, from Halifax Fire, were at our final event to pressure the Newfoundland government in to passing this important legislation.  Again Gary inspired us because of his passion but most of all his friendship motivated us and made a difference in all of our lives. 

I think Gary and John exemplify the true attributes of a Typically Canadian Hero.  They are genuine, caring and selfless.  They will be apart of the Typically Canadian family forever and meeting people such as them across Canada will change our lives and we are better people because of them. 

Please follow along and get involved in next years Tribute.

The Typically Canadian group rode with Firefighters across Canada, all of our sponsors, community directors, people who donated, all the stories on the website, our loved ones who inspired us and we will continue to ride with John, Gary and Typical Canadians to make a difference in the fight against cancer.

Who are you riding with?  

When we arrived at the Confederation Building it was overwhelming.  There was a crowd of people there cheering our arrival and there was a platform set up on the stairs of the building for the speeches.  We quickly hugged some family then proceeded to our formalities.  The event today was very emotional from the get go.  The ceramony was MC’d by Tony Angelo from VOCM and began with the singing of “Salt water joy”, a beautiful song and a favourite of Kyle’s grandad.  It was performed by Peter Halley and Shelley Neville of Spirit of Newfoundland.  It was hard to fight back the tears because of what it meant to everyone at the event.  We were then welcomed and congratulated by Leuitenant-Governor, Honourable John Crosbie, St. John’s Mayor, His Worship Dennis O’keefe and Attorney General, Honourable Jerome Kennedy.  We honoured Alan Doyle for his work with the Daffodil Place and the St. John’s Fire Dept. for their efforts in fundraising for us with a boot drive.   

Our final stop also had special significance because one our goals was to raise awareness of the presumptive legislation for fire fighters with cancer and Newfoundland-Labrador is the last remaining province without it.  With the help of the Halifax Fire Dept. we were able to have our old friend Gary Harris, a retired firefighter and cancer fighter present at our event to say a few words on behalf of the firefighters and cancer in the workplace.  Gary was instrumental in getting the presumptive legislation in Nova Scotia and we were honoured that he made the trip, even in his condiditon, to help us raise this awareness.  After his compelling story we closed the ceremony again with Ronalda, Miranda and Hilary singing a song that Ronalda wrote called “Ride with me” in honour of the Tribute tour. 

 We thank everyone who helped us in our journey without you this trip could not have been possible. 

We are certainly riding with you all. 

When we arrived it was a great feeling.  The sense of accomplishment was in the air, but there was also a sad realization that it was over.  We have just one event left to go and it is sure to be promising with some very notable people such as; his honour Lieutenant-Governor, John Crosbie; the Mayor of St. John’s, His Worship Dennis O’Keefe; and Lead singer of Great Big Sea and spokesperson for the Daffodil Place, Alan Doyle.  After today’s ride we all seperated for the night to be with our families who flew down to join us for the finale. 

The next morning we got up early and showed up for a pancake breakfast at the Clarenville Fire Hall.  There was a lot of amazing people there including the Minister of Health and the Deputy Mayor who greeted us and made donations to Daffodil Place.  From there we continued our ride to my Granddad’s hometown of Harbour Grace, NL. 

We met many people from my family, the Fire Department and the town of Harbour Grace including the Deputy Mayor at the S.S. Kyle, a boat I was named after.  The Convoy to the Harbour Grace Fire Hall was amazing and there was a great group to meet us for speeches and a really nice reception.  It was very special to me because I heard so many amazing stories about my Granddad and my family.  The Deputy Mayor and the Fire Chief made donation presenations as well as a presentation of an amazing print from Harbour Grace that included the S.S. Kyle.  After we enjoyed some drinks and food that were provided at the reception.  We met so many amazing people and it was a very emotional stop where we honoured my Aunt Jill, Mr. Andrews, a number of Firefighters, the Town of Harbour Grace and the Harbour Grace Volunteer Fire Brigade for their courage and contributions in the fight against cancer.

We then left for my Aunty Megs house for dinner, drinks and a cake.  The Nutbeemers did an amazing job hosting the party and taking care of the group.  It was a great celebration bringing my Grandad home and then being so close to St. John’s.

We rode and continue to ride with the amazing people we met in Harbour Grace.

Who are you riding with? 

 Upon our return to the hall we were officially welcomed as honourary Newfoundlanders…right after we ate, drank and spoke like a Newfoundlander. Thanks so much to everyone here at the Gander Fire Department for all your support and hospitality and to Mayor Elliot for a wonderful greeting. We hope to see some of you in St. John’s!

We then made our way to the fire hall and set up a quick baked salmon, bacon wrapped scallops, mashed potatoes and caesar salad meal compliments of Craig from Stephenville and the firefighters of Grand Falls-Windsor. Great to meet Pete and the boys back at the hall, thanks so much for yet another successful day!

 It was a tremendous experience to meet everyone at the Humber Valley Resort, Tarragh, Marizio, Bradley, Mike Murphy and all of the Canadian Cancer Society Reps…It was a phenomenal event and weekend.

When we got to the resort we met up with Tarragh, a Humber Valley employee who had arranged everything for us, as well as, several representitives from the Canadian Cancer Society and the Daffodil Place.  We honoured both the Humber Valley Resort for their hospitality and  Mike Murphy for his work within the cancer community and the daffodil Place in particular. 

After the presentations we were shown to our chalet/masnion with 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, sauna, hottub, and entertainment centre.  We spent the rest of the night like kids in a candy store trying to take advantage of every piece of the chalet. 

As the day went on the fog slowly disappeared, but the rolling hills were consistent.  We arrived at our first meeting point after about 140 km to an extremely warm welcome.  The Stephenville Fire Dept. along with the Marine Institue SERT company, a fire training school for both civilians and the militia, were both there. They had 4 pumpers and several riders to join us in the ride.  The convoy lasted approximetly 16-20 km with one massive hill close to the town.  It also included a a showcase around the town, where the boys weren’t shy with the horns and sirens. 

When we arrived at the station we were lucky to meet a true typically canadian, Becky Reid.  Becky is just 8 years old, but already she knows what it is like to fight for her life.  She was diagnosed with cancer at an extremely young age, but has been cancer free now for over 7 years.  We shared her inspiring story with everyone at the station and made Becky an honourary rider with us on the Tribute Tour.  The Stephenville Fire Dept. and SERT were also awarded yellow Jerseys for helping in the fight against cancer with a fundraiser car wash raising $2500 dollars. 

Once the day started to come to an end we once again got a first hand glance at some more Newfoundland hospitality.  One of the Professors from the MI SERT, Jim, invited us to his home in Port-au-port for the night.  We met his lovely family, enjoyed a great dinner and battled it out playing volleyball in his pool.  We also got to see some more amazing landscape with his backyard overlooking the ocean.   The next morning when we woke up at 5 am and Jim and his wife already had breakfast made.