Run AIMS to better the lives of adults with disabilities

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

Melissa Schayes didn’t run the 10 km at the Chinook Financial Tight & Bright Family Run for exercise. Nor was her prime focus to raise a lot of money for the organization. Instead, Schayes, who is a job coach with the society, ran the distance – in 47 minutes – to motivate her clients to live a more active lifestyle.
Coming up on her one-year job anniversary, Schayes wanted her clients – who have mental or physical disabilities – to see people have positive experiences with exercise and encourage the willingness to participate.
“There’s definitely the financial aspect of this… but for people with disabilities that’s the last resort, they never get that, they never get the exercise that they should be getting,” she said. “Once you start doing exercise you get more energy, and the people that we work with and support, they already lack energy, The food and the nutrition that 90 per cent of the parents are giving them is a cause of that, but if we can get them active then we’re going to get longer hours for them. We’re going to get them to do maybe four-hour shifts, and that gives them more potential to be a part of the community.”
The Foothills Advocacy in Motion Society (AIMS) organized this year’s sixth annual fundraiser in just over a month. Together with a move in their office’s location and changing the date from the beginning of the year to last weekend, the crowd of nearly 50 participants fell short on beating last year’s turnout of 75. However, the society was still able to make a profit of nearly $3,000 that will help with operations and client support.
“The town was fantastic… I can’t say enough good things about that for sure, and
I had lots of positive feedback from people that ran it,” said Bev Roppel, program manager for the Strathmore AIMS. “Every bit helps, absolutely, and will it make a huge difference? No. What we’re aiming to do, and we haven’t quite figured it out, is to do, between the three branches, a huge fundraiser to bring in bigger dollars for agencies and help with the shortfalls from the government.”
The organization, that works together with individuals with disabilities to allow them to live, to work and be active within the community, experienced a funding shortage and client freeze due to government cutbacks and a lack of a provincial budget this year. Despite a government contribution of $3 million spread among the three different branches – Strathmore, Okotoks, and High River – the Strathmore branch is unable to take on new clients unless they are accompanied with their own funding. As a result, and because of the success of the fundraiser each year, Chinook Financial, who contributed $3,000 towards organizing the run this year, is interested in creating a committee to take on the event and increase participation and funding.
According to Kimberley Sharkey-Thompson, the regional branch manager for Chinook Financial, the institution is working on having greater involvement in the event and the community, and not just financially. By establishing a committee and volunteering on the day, she hopes to attract more people in 2016.
Despite fewer people participating in the event on Aug. 22, the support from town businesses and individuals was overwhelming. A total of 45 donations were made available for prizes, more than had previously been experienced. In acknowledging all the obstacles that faced the society this year, Roppel was pleased with the overall event and is looking forward to growing the fundraiser next year.
“I realized this year it’s going to be nice to have a committee because then we can say this is where our shortfall was this year and this is where we need to improve,” said Roppel.
“We’re excited about that, we have a few people in town that are interested in being on that committee, so it’s not just going to be us, it’s going to be opened up and have more people involved. That should bring more runners in next year.”
Participants had an option of running or walking 2 km, 5 km, or 10 km. AIMS clients are visible within the community through various volunteer work by helping out with schools, the Strathmore Municipal Library, Parent Link, the Wheatland Lodge and the churches, to name a few. To find out more about how AIMS contributes to the community, visit www.faims.org.