Walk event raises $43,500 for major reno of Indigenous Perspectives Society’s Langford site

A fundraising walk in Langford on Oct. 23 surpassed its target and raised $43,500 for HeroWork’s radical renovation of the Indigenous Perspectives Society’s building.

The Walk to Rebuild event saw community members walking an activity-filled loop outside the West Shore Parks and Recreation Centre throughout Saturday. The walk sought to raise $40,000 in donations that would go toward supplies needed for the renovation.

HeroWork, a charitable effort that performs renovations for other charities, is revamping the society’s location to accommodate 50 participants, redesigning the building to reflect Indigenous people’s connection with the natural world and more.

The event had almost reached the $15,000 mark by the early afternoon, with the Westhills Land Corp. and Verity Construction matching up to $20,000 raised.

“Victoria’s an amazing community that really steps up to the plate,” Paul Latour, HeroWork’s founder and CEO, said. “This is an important cause and a great project that I think everybody is going to support.”

The renovation is the organization’s first Langford project, and also their first time supporting an Indigenous agency.

“For us to be able to lift up the culture of this organization after over a century of the suppression of (Indigenous) culture, that is important to me,” Latour said.

Trevor Botkin, HeroWork Victoria’s executive director, said when they were thinking of an event to support the project, a walk just made sense.

“We really wanted to find something that was inclusive and open for everybody to participate in at their level and I think we hit the nail over the head with just a fun walk and some activities along the way,” he said.

Botkin was walking the loop for 12 hours straight, or until they reached $40,000, on Saturday to support the project. Almost eight hours in, he realized he’d underestimated how hard walking for that long could be.

“I’m feeling it my calves here right now but I’ll get through it,” he said. “Our projects are just so inspiring and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”

Donations will be accepted for the Walk To Rebuild until Oct. 29 and the donation page can be found here.

READ: HeroWork walkathon raising funds for Langford Indigenous facility