Mom finds comfort in helping others
Posted Oct 2, 2010 05:53:04 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Suzanna Walter remembers the day her son, Alex Schmidt, died. It was September of 2007 and the teen crashed while riding a dirt bike. He had never ridden one before.
In time, Walter would turn to volunteering as a way of coping. This year marks the 3rd annual Alex Schmidt Memorial Run/Walk in support of Pathways to Education.
“(It’s all about) raising awareness that we have areas in Kitchener with a 50% high school dropout rate,” Walter tells 570 News. “I find it shocking that our community has relatively low literacy levels (given that) we have two universities and community colleges.”
Half of the funds raised by today’s event will flow through to Pathways to Education in Kitchener, which is a proven, successful program to help high school students in Kitchener stay in school. The Pathways program is supported by Mosaic Family Counselling in Kitchener.
The balance of the monies raised will be endowed to provide ongoing support for youth in our community.
Walter recognizes that the youth she’s helping today would be peers of her son, who would be 18 this year.
“It’s a way of giving back to the community and, to be honest, it was a way of, for me, coping with my grief,” Walter admits. “It was a way of getting out of myself and helping others.”
Today’s event takes place in the area around Waterloo’s Grey Silo Golf Course. Walter says she prefers to look at it as a “walk/run” because it’s not exactly a competitive event.
“Most of the people who come actually go for a nice walk along the river. They often bring dogs and it’s a very casual sort of thing,” Walter explains. “It’s (also) a way to mingle with the students. We’re hoping to have about 50 students from Pathways come this year.”
Walter does not set a specific fundraising goal because she believes it’s more about raising awareness of Pathways and the support it needs. Still, her event has contributed about $30,000 to that cause over the past two years.
Registration starts this morning at 9 with the walk getting underway at 10.
