The UMAYC youth centre is holding its annual canoe-a-thon this week, but this year there’s a twist—they’re doing it to raise awareness about teen suicide.
This will be the fifth-annual canoe-a-thon, now called “Paddling for a Purpose.” But unlike in previous years when group paddled to raise money for the youth centre, they decided to pick a cause to raise awareness about instead.
Every year the focus will change, depending on what the youth centre deems worthwhile for the community, such as body image or eating disorders.
This year the cause is teen suicide—an issue that hits close to home for many, including UMAYC program co-ordinator Ryan McMahon.
“I’ve had a lot of friends commit suicide, and I think back and you kind of know people are going through stuff, you know people are affected by different things, you see your friends getting into trouble, you see your friends doing things you know are wrong.
“I think you owe it to people [to say something].
“I think back when I was young and some of the people who I knew who were going through stuff, and I think about how scared we all were to say anything and to be that person that said, ‘Hey, this isn’t cool anymore.’
“It’s a pretty scary thing when you’re a kid,” McMahon added. “And to be able to empower people to do that and to be okay with doing that is kind of what we want to do.”
UMAYC staff have been busy collecting resources from the Canadian Mental Health Association, such as facilitator training opportunities, where people in the community can be trained in suicide intervention—something that McMahon is trained in and called “remarkable.”
“I think the one thing that I took from that training, from all the personal stories that were shared during that training, was that we’ve all felt that way, we’ve all felt like there’s nowhere else to go, we’ve all felt like you just need to give up,” he said.
“I remember feeling that way when I was a kid and I would be willing to bet that most people have felt that way at some point,” he remarked. “But [suicide] never makes it better.”
A meet-and-greet will be held at the UMAYC (616 Mowat Ave.) tonight, where the youth will be sharing stories of why they’re paddling to Rainy River as well as making signs for the canoes.
About 20 people are participating in the canoe-a-thon, two people per canoe, from both Fort Frances and Kenora, who will leaving here tomorrow (Thursday) at 7 a.m.
They have close to 100 kim to travel over three days to reach their destination in Rainy River. In the past, they’ve averaged about two km/h, meaning they’ll be spending about 15 hours paddling each day.
“Its pretty incredible. And everyone involved realized the enormity of it,” said McMahon. “It’s a pretty daunting task, and it’s not for everybody.
“But what we hope to do is paddle from here to Rainy River and then jump the river and go to Lake of the Woods and just keep paddling,” he added.
Tomorrow, the group will stop after five or six hours for a lunch of peanut butter and jam before heading back to the water to continue their trek to Emo, where they will dine on hotdogs and chili and spend the night camping.
The following night will be spent at the church in Pinewood before they head out to complete the last leg of their journey Saturday.
“We’re not going to change the world, but I think if we can just make people in Fort Frances go ‘Oh, that is a problem,’” said McMahon. “We just want people to know that this is what we’re standing up for and next year will be something else, something just as important.”
Anyone interested in helping to drive the canoeists back from Rainy River on Saturday, or in sponsoring one of their breakfasts of fruit, cereal, and bagels, can contact the UMAYC at 274-0561.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
