Cyclists from across Prince Albert gathered at the Alfred Jenkins Field House on Saturday to raise money for mental health services and programs in Prince Albert.
Participants hopped on their bikes for the fourth Ride for Refuge for Catholic Family Services with the goal of raising $51,000 for the organization. The event far exceeded their goal and after donations from Malcolm Jenkins they were near $80,000 in funds raised as of publication
Jeannette Eddolls, who is on the Catholic Family Services board and the organizing committee, said the event was a huge success.
“It is the best one yet,” Eddolls said during an interview on Saturday. “We’re not done yet for taking in funds, but we’ve already exceeded our last year by $20,000.”
In 2024, the event generated around $58,000 in donations. As of Saturday, the total stood at around $78,000, with more donations still coming in.
The organization can accept donations until Oct. 30 so Edolls expects to hit $80,000.
“The first one (in 2022), our goal was around $30,000, and we didn’t quite make that. The next year we made it into the 40s, and [Malcolm Jenkins] said, ‘Shoot for the big one, we’re going to 51’,” she explained.
More than 80 people participated in the event, with roughly an even split between bike riders and walkers. The Ride for Refuge began at the 0 km mark of the Rotary Trail near the fieldhouse, and allowed participants to either walk 2.5 km, walk 5 km, bike a 10 km loop, or bike the entire Rotary Trail.
Eddolls added that the 2025 edition of Ride for Refuge saw a record number of community sponsors, and Prince Albert as a whole was ranked fourth in the national scoreboard on event day for money raised, trailing only Richmond, B.C. ($124,893.49), Vancouver, B.C. ($84,659.88), and Kitchener, Ont. ($80,066.32), who have between 25-40 teams each. Saskatoon was the only other Saskatchewan community in the top 10, ranking ninth with $37,518.10 raised across 17 teams.
“The other the top 20 teams are like Kitchener, Vancouver, big centres” Eddolls said.
“They’ve got industry behind them and stuff like that, and we don’t have that.”
Eddolls was proud of the support because it goes towards such an important cause.
“Every bit counts,” she said. “It all supports the cause, which I’m passionate about. I’ve been part of this agency since before it was an agency.”
Catholic Family Services provides individual counselling to adults, and programs for children who have experienced trauma or are grieving.
Catholic Family Services Executive Director George Marshall spoke before the Ride for Refuge on Saturday.
Walkers begin their trek down the Rotary Trail for the Ride for Refuge for Catholic Family Services on Saturday morning
Bikers take off from the Start/Finish line of the Ride for Refuge for Catholic Family Services on Saturday morning.
“I believe in the mission, and I know that the results are just very, very good,” Eddolls said.
She added that the name can be deceiving because Catholic Family Services is not only for people who practice the Catholic faith.
“I guess number one, it would be to serve all people that wish to have service through this. Catholic or not, any faith, it doesn’t matter if they can afford to pay or not,” she said.
“We’ve got people from so many different faiths that come in and also different faiths that are counsellors too. (It’s about) the integrity of the family, holding the family together, giving supports, all through compassion and tremendous contribution,” she added.
Eddolls said that the Ride for Refuge had raised enough money that individuals would not have to pay for counselling for a month.
She said that she would not be surprised if 25 per cent of participants had used the services but she said that they did not promote the event to clients.
“The clients love the service. Then in addition to the counselling, we have what we call life improvement programs and these are programs like they might deal with anger management for teens or anger management for men, interpersonal relationships, anxiety, grief, so many. (It) could be a teen parent. There’s so many different things that they can help walk a group of people through, say, six or eight sessions.”
Remi Joncas, who is a teacher at Ecole St. Mary High School has been participating in the event since it started and was on his bike for the event. He supports the event because he supports Catholic Family Services.
“I’m doing this because mental health needs are so big around the community and everywhere,” Joncas said. “It’s so important to help with mental health and raise money.
“As a teacher, I see it in school all the time. I have friends too and people, even sometimes myself too. It’s like we need some help, and Catholic Family Services is a really, really, really good organization, which I’ve used before as well. They have really good counsellors and are very helpful for everyone.”
Joncas was the Captain of the Ecole St. Mary High School team, which raised $1,487, with Joncas raising $570 individually.
“I started slow, but as a teacher, I was so busy,” he explained. “Then two weeks ago, it really picked up. I got some staff, actually, especially my administration, like my principal and VP, who really helped promote it. They sent emails and they helped.”
Joncas invited more people to support Ride for Refuge, even if they are not a bike rider or a walker.
“You could still donate, sponsor someone, or even just come,” he said. “If you can’t come for the whole day, just come and hang out for the time you have and come for a small ride. It just doesn’t have to be the whole trail and you don’t have to break records. Just come. Every bit helps, like $5, $15, $50. Every bit helps.”
The top fundraising team was The Generous Gang which raised $10,350.
Edolls and race director Dunc Ho each gave speeches with Ho handing out tokes of support to top fundraisers. Representatives from Blue Sea, which facilitates the event across the country were also on hand and said how impressed they were with Prince Albert’s performance.
Supporter Malcolm Jenkins gave a speech before the event as did Catholic Family Services Executive Director George Marshall. There was also a speech by Councillor Darren Solomon who was representing Honourary Chair Mayor Bill Powalinsky who was out of town and could not attend.
Eddolls said that Jenkins would match the totals of the top three teams, who together have raised $24,270.99.
“Last I looked, it was very close to $25,000, and I told that to him,” she explained. “I said, ‘I don’t know if we’re quite there’, and he said, ‘It’s close enough.’ Last year, he ended up giving us $25,000 overall, the before I think was $15,000, and this year it’ll be $30,000.”
Edolls then broke down the routes for walkers and bikers who travelled in opposite directions down the Rotary Trail. The route was well-marked for both walkers and bikers and there were volunteer race Marshals throughout the course.
Participants were invited back to a meal of burgers courtesy of the Knights of Columbus.
Ride for Refuge happened in 55 other cities across Canada. The Ride for Refuge is a family-friendly, in-person fundraising ride/walk held in support of charities that help people seeking hope, safety, and freedom.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
