Last year, more than 100 people showed up for the annual Peace Walk in Calgary.
This year, the COVID-19 pandemic meant there was no way that many people were going to gather, regardless of the cause.
The Peace Walk’s organizers could have cancelled the event. Instead, they decided to improvise.
There was no large get-together on Saturday afternoon, but instead the Peace Walk organizers encouraged would-be participants to take a walk through their own neighbourhoods.
Tina Thrussell, one of the organizers, also went to the Peace Bridge and did a livestream at the time when the Peace Walk was originally supposed to happen.
It was different, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was worse.
“Just a couple days ago, the idea came about that we could turn this into a greater global experience,” Thrussell said. “We think by having people all around the globe doing this all at the same time we’ll send a bigger ripple of peace into the world and raise awareness that this is something we want to do on a daily basis, not just between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Mountain Time.”
The Peace Walk doesn’t seek to raise any money. Its goal is to bring “awareness that peace begins within and that everyone has the opportunity to create peace in our own world,” according to Thrussell.
The way the Peace Walk reacted to the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could be instructive for similar walks and runs through the season.
Spring is typically a busy time in Calgary for fundraising and charity runs and walks in Calgary — the website www.runguides.com has at least two races scheduled for every weekend in May — and it may not be possible for some of the bigger ones to pivot to alternatives that allow for responsible physical distancing.
Not every event will need to cancel, though.
Related
L’Arche Calgary is an organization with the mission of creating community for people with development disabilities and the people who surround them. It has five homes in the city as well as a supported independent living program and a day program.
L’Arche was supposed to be hosting its 10 th Rogers Insurance Run for L’Arche, an important fundraiser which has raised more than $460,000 since 2011 and which featured a half marathon and a number of shorter races.
The event couldn’t go ahead as planned, so the organizers instead created a “virtual run” in which participants could still run their chosen distance while using social media hashtags to raise awareness.
“Basically, the idea was you could just go out for a run for whatever the distance,” said John Eng, the directors of operations for L’Arche Calgary. “Then, you can post the time and if you have the chance, share the pictures.”
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