A group of local doctors and nurses have raised more than $8,000 for local charities while taking part in a fitness challenge at the Squamish General Hospital.
During the month of April, dozens of nurses, doctors and staff at the hospital took part in a 30X30 challenge that pushed them to exercise 30 minutes a day for 30 days.
The only catch was that each participant contributed $30, with the collected funds going to local charities.
By the end of the challenge, the group had raised $7,355, with $7,000 being split between the Squamish Food Bank and the Squamish Women’s Shelter and the remainder to Squamish Hospice Society.
A separate five-kilometre run raised another $1,000 for the local hospice.
For Holly O’Neill, the registered nurse who started and inspired her colleagues to take the challenge, the interest by her coworkers and the community was completely unexpected.
“There’s been a lot amazing support and it brought a lot of us together in such a hard time,” she said.
O’Neill started the challenge because most of her coworkers are moms and they often forget to take care of themselves as they put everyone else first.
She thought maybe 20 or so people would participate in what she called her “take care of YOU” challenge, but the number quickly swelled to 90.
Initially, O’Neill thought about putting a couple of prizes together for the challenge because her partner is the owns 7mesh apparel company, which is based in Squamish.
But once the number of participants started to rise, she reached out to other local businesses who were eager to help out. Dozens of Squamish businesses have pitched in to donate small prizes to staff for the challenge.
“Truthfully, I have been overwhelmed by the generosity and support of the community,” says O’Neill.
The local businesses have graciously donated so many amazing prizes to support our challenge.”
The hospital staff isn’t done yet.
O’Neill intends to keep the challenge going through the summer using different themes and charities in which to generate donations.
“I believe this challenge has brought the SGH team closer together. They’re supportive, they’re encouraging, they’re proud of each other’s accomplishments and they’ve gotten to know one another. Most importantly, back to my goal of the challenge, the team is taking care of themselves during these hard and unpredictable times which has been unbelievable to watch.”
