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Perseverance Week raises more than $155,000 for Cumberland Community Forest Society

The Cumberland Forest’s Perseverance Week (Oct. 21-31, 2019) fundraising drive totals are in and the community came together to raise an incredible $155,500.
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2019 Perseverance Week in Cumberland raised more than $155,000. Photo submitted

The Cumberland Forest’s Perseverance Week (Oct. 21-31, 2019) fundraising drive totals are in and the community came together to raise an incredible $155,500.

This special drive centered around the annual Perseverance Trail Run and was supported by a generous matching donor who inspired the forest community to embrace a week of creative and ambitious fundraising.

The community seized the opportunity and came together for a variety of unique events, all in support of the Cumberland Community Forest Society. In addition to the Trail Run, friends of the forest organized a Perseverance Party in the Park, a “Witches of the Woods” Halloween theatre production in the forest, guided walking tours, an online auction and a donor drive where business and family donors jumped in to realize the matching opportunity.

RELATED: Perseverance Week a major opportunity for Cumberland Forest

The Perseverance Trail Run raised a record breaking $29,000 this year thanks to the incredible efforts of Sarah Seads and her remarkable team of volunteers and sponsors. This annual all ages run has been the backbone of Cumberland Forest fundraising since its inception over a decade ago. Over 500 participants gather every October to take part in a day-long celebration of forest, fitness and community.

“We are incredibly grateful to CCFS Guardian Donors the Li-Grimmer family for their generous support. Not only did they provide the initial $50,000 as a matching challenge, when we exceeded that challenge, they met us halfway with an additional $18,500,” said CCFS board chair Evan Gough.

Tom Grimmer, Hui Li and their children Conrad, Zola and Bronte have spent summer and winter holidays on Vancouver Island for over two decades. They fell in love with the Comox Valley and plan one day to call it home. Until that time arrives, they are grateful to spend as many spare days as they can in the thrall of the forests, mountains and coastal landscapes of this special place.

The Cumberland Community Forest is now on a race to the finish line, raising the final $150,000 to meet the $2,386,000 target to complete the 226-acre Project Perseverance purchase of forest, creeks and wetlands in the Perseverance Watershed by March 31, 2020. This purchase will double the lands protected by the CCFS since it formed in the year 2000. For more information, visit www.cumberlandforest.com