During Friday's Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, it felt like there should have been a moment of stunned silence after the amount raised was announced. Over $20,000 is impressive in normal circumstances, but in a town of around 3,000 people, it's close to amazing. Sure, it helped that around 30 people were raising the money, but that's not really the point.
You can say what you want about Athabasca, but you really can't say that they don't step up to the plate. Whether it's for the family of the boy who died in March, Santas Anonymous or Walk a Mile, people tend to be more than willing to lend a bit of a helping hand. The Athabasca Facebook groups are full of disagreements and arguments surrounding strongly held opinions on various topics. However, when push comes to shove, people seem to know when to drop everything and come together. In a society that thrives on individualism and looking out for yourself, it's nice to see people looking beyond themselves, even just a little bit.
The organization that Walk a Mile supports Thrive is probably one of the more important organizations in town. It not only helps people directly by dealing with relationship abuse, but it also helps the community as a whole, by helping those indirectly effected by relationship abuse (family, friends) and by teaching young people that relationship abuse isn't OK.
The event, itself, was a great time, not just for the participants, but for those watching. It's always fun to see men hobbling along near the end of the walk (or surprisingly, actually striding confidently to the end) or seeing men in dresses or entirely out in drag -- both impressive and a little bit disconcerting (especially those who were rather confident in their outfits).
But the basic mission of the event seems to be getting through the people. The money raised is significantly more than last year. Here's hoping that next year will be even more. In the end, though, congratulations, Athabasca. You should be proud of yourselves. More than $20,000 is going towards
