History of the Walk for Hope Foundation: 2006-2007
From Jeniffer Moore, Director of the Walk For Hope Foundation:
In 2006 I, like many Canadians, experienced the pain of losing a loved one to cancer. It was at this time that I began to explore different ways to honour the memory of my Grandfather, to embark on a huge physical challenge and to raise money for a Canadian charity. One night in early 2007 while travelling from Vancouver to the Okanagan, I had an idea – I would walk from Hope to Osoyoos, B.C. (a distance of 250 km) and raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation. It was a lofty goal as there was only three months to train for this physical feat, but once the decision was made to attempt the walk, there was no turning back.
In March I began a fundraising campaigned which included mostly family and friends. I am very fortunate to have so many caring people in my life and some of these people took it among themselves to inform local media of the walk. This first walk was one giant learning curve for me. I was learning how to work with a large charity (the Terry Fox Foundation) and discovering various methods to fundraise. Getting into top physical shape during these three months was also extremely important. Every day from February until the end of April I could be found walking the forty-five minutes to and from college. I purchased a large hiking backpack for the walk, and in addition to all of my books I would fill the backpack with two litre water bottles and rocks for weight. At this time I was also running fifty kilometres a week to prepare for the walk.
One of the most important things that I’ve learned through this process is to be flexible. In the beginning planning stages of the first walk I had many ideas of how I planned things to go, but I realized that I was somewhat unrealistic in some of my plans. For example, I thought in the beginning that I would take thirteen days to walk the 250 km walk, carrying all of my supplies on my back and camping at night. At the time I had no idea how much physical wear and tear the walk would inflict on my body: I also had no idea how much my mom would insist on driving the support vehicle along the route.
In the end the Walk for Hope 2007 ended up being a five day walk (50 km per day) and my mom drove along as I walked, making meals, buying many rolls of mole skin to cover my aching feet, and most importantly providing much needed love and support when I was emotionally and physically spent. In the end the Walk for Hope 2007 was a huge success, raising $2,400.00 for the Terry Fox Foundation and I achieved my goal of walking 250 km in five days.
Walk For Hope 2008
It took many months for my legs and feet to heal after the Walk for Hope 2007, but time has a way of limiting the painful memories and illuminating the happy, joyous ones. So, with memories of past success I began to plan the Walk for Hope 2008. By this time I had thoughts of the walk growing exponentially each year. In January 2008 the Walk for Hope Foundation became an incorporated, non-profit society. Again I solicited mainly family and friends for donations and again these folks went out of their way to help me. It was during the planning process for the second walk that I decided to walk a different route and to increase the distance, from 250 km to 265km walking up Vancouver Island from Victoria to Campbell River B.C. So on one of the coldest spring days on record I began the Walk for Hope 2008, leaving Victoria at 4:30 am. As I walked up the Malahat Highway it wasn’t long before I was walking through snow and finding myself severely under dressed for the sub-zero weather. Out of necessity to stay warm I began to run, and didn’t stop until I was coming down the Duncan side of the Malahat. All in all when the first day was done I had put in my most successful walking/running day with sixty seven kilometres completed.
The one big difference between the Walk for Hope 2007 and the Walk for Hope 2008 was the support of people walking with me. On the Walk for Hope 
2008 I knew that friends would be joining me on the fourth and fifth day of the walk, but unexpectedly my uncle joined me for what was the most difficult twenty kilometres of day three. I had no idea how much having social support would enable me to not only walk further in less time but also to walk with fewer injuries and pain. The Walk for Hope 2008 was another huge success with the support of my family, friends and the strangers who stopped to support me along the way. When the Walk was over and all the donations were collected, a total of $2,350.00 was donated to Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.