Instead of birthday presents, Kaiden Maltais, who turns 12 on Sunday, opted to try and raise money for cancer.
For the third year in a row, Maltais held his birthday at the Canadian Cancer Society’s Muddy Moose Charge event at Searchmont Resort.
The Muddy Moose Charge is a 5km obstacle course through wet mud that is followed by a 1km Calf Charge for kids.
Kaiden Maltais at the 2016 Muddy Moose Charge. Jeff Klassen/SooTodayMaltais turned the event, which was held on Saturday, into a birthday party and he asked that instead of bringing him gifts, his friends go out and collect pledges and run the race with him.
“I don’t really miss presents. I have enough stuff at home, I don’t know where to put half it,” said Maltais.
Maltais’ mom, Solange Maltais, said when they first did the event a few years ago, it was Kaiden himself – at the age of 9 – who came up with the idea to ask for charity pledges instead of gifts.
“He’s got a really big heart. He’s the kind of kid that would just give you the shirt off his back. It’s not uncommon for him to give what he has even if he gets nothing in return. For him, it’s just the reward of being able to help others,” said his mom.
Maltais also participates in the Relay For Life, another CCS fundraiser.
Part of why Maltais chooses to give to CCS is because of some losses in his personal life.
“We lost five close family and friends to cancer. It was kind of one after another and it really affected him. That’s one of the reasons he’s so involved with the cancer society’s fundraising efforts. It was a rough time,” said his mom.
Maltais’ five-person team raised $213.33.
255 adults and children participated and, although money is still being counted and coming in, CCR say they raised about $30,000.
“Today was great. We were nervous at the beginning of the day because it looked like the rain would be a lot heavier but we were quite pleased at what we got. This is one of the few events where a little bit rain improves the quality of the event because it makes sure the obstacles are nice and muddy,” said CCS’s fundraising specialist Lori McDonald.