Some members of BRIGHT team Pink on Jake have participated in the BRIGHT Run, supporting “Grandma Nancy” (event chair Nancy McMillan) for years.
But 2020 marked the team’s first event as its own team, led by captain Grayce Bell, 12. And it was a virtual year!
So instead of gathering at Dundas Valley Conservation Area with hundreds of others, Pink on Jake took to the streets in the team’s Niagara Falls neighbourhood.
“We organized a 5K walk in our neighbourhood with neighbours and friends,” said Grayce’s mom, Nicole Bell. “We had pink flags, signs, cookies, chocolates, and wigs and marched together as a group.”
The Bell family – dad Craig, Nicole, Grayce, Alayna and Ethan – love the excitement of the in-person event, but given the COVID-19 pandemic, Nicole said going virtual was a great alternative.
“During these tough times, it was such a joy to bring everyone together,” she said.
The team came together quickly last August, raising more than $5,000 for local breast cancer research in about three weeks. The kids decorated heart-shaped and ribbon sugar cookies – with the emphasis on clean hands, masked faces, and lots of icing and pink candy – and sold them at their neighbourhood park. Dozens of cookies were also sold through word-of-mouth and via social media.
The culmination of the team’s event day celebration was a drone shot of a human pink ribbon formed in their residential court by team members.
Plans are afoot to make BRIGHT 2021 even beter.
“We have some great ideas for this year, a little twist from what we did last year and I know it will be great!”, Nicole said. “We’re going to fundraise a bit earlier, hoping to break our record.”
“We love the in-person BRIGHT Run, but would we do it virtual again? Yes!”
