When a RCMP officer meets with tragedy on the job, they leave behind family, friends and colleagues who mourn their loss. A newly formed foundation has created an annual fundraiser called Move to Remember Challenge, to help provide support to those RCMP members’ families who have lost a loved one serving in the line of duty.
“The National Police Federation Benevolent Foundation (NPFBF) is an organization’s sole purpose is to support the families of fallen RCMP officers,” said NPFBF Chair Kevin Halwa. “It was recently designated by Royal Canadian Mounted Police Federation as the sole charitable foundation that collects donations for the families of fallen RCMP officers.
“When one of our members is tragically killed in the line of duty, it’s not just devastating to the community, their colleagues and the force, but it’s unbelievably overwhelming to the family. We’re there to provide immediate financial and other support for the member’s family as needed.
“We also provide some post-secondary funding for bursaries for students across the country,” said Halwa. “Those bursaries are open to all students that are going into any kind of public safety field for post-secondary learning.
“The Move to Remember Challenge is for the month of September. Members register and collect pledges for any kind of physical activity that allows them to reach a goal of 246 km. The reason for 246 plus km is to represent the number of fallen officers in the line of duty, as well as those members whose work-related injuries led to suicide. Those circumstances are incredibly tragic and this is a way we can keep those colleagues and their loved ones in our hearts and minds.”
Swan River RCMP Detachment Constable Briana Blencowe is more than taking the cause to heart; she’s stepping up to the challenge.
“I personally did the Move to Remember Challenge on my own last year, but because of my involvement with Ride for Refuge, I didn’t seek community support,” said Constable Blencowe. “The NPFBF raises money to help support those families in different ways. This challenge helps us as RCMP to also remember and honour those members who we have served with that are no longer with us as a result of a tragedy on the job.”
The cause is personal for Blencowe for she feels the potential that tragedy could befall any of her previous or current co-workers on the job. For Blencowe, those co-workers are a form of family.
“I’ve been in Swan River for four years and in that time, I’ve worked with so many amazing members and got to know the community,” said Constable Blencowe. “Most, if not all of us, have come from across Canada to serve in Swan River and to become members. We have left our extended families and close friends to become part of a new community.
“I don’t know if the general public realizes how much a member sacrifices personally when it comes to that. Because we leave our extended families, we develop a bond with our co-workers and their families and it means that much more if something were to happen to them. Just knowing that the Benevolent Fund is there to help take care of those families, should a tragedy befall their loved one on the line of duty, means a lot to me.”
Although Blencowe has participated in Move to Remember before, this time she’s enlisting a team consisting of members from the Swan River Detachment and has set a fundraising goal along with a personal physical activity goal to raise funds.
“I’m hoping to get our full detachment together to do the Move to Remember Challenge,” said Blencowe. “There’s going to be a couple of ways people can donate to our team’s involvement for the Move to Remember Challenge. Next week there will be donation sheets at some of the local businesses. We also have a QR code that will connect directly to our online donation page for our team. I’m hoping we can raise $3,000.
“The Move to Remember Challenge goes from Sept. 1 to 30, and the idea is to get as many kilometres as possible over the 30 days with a minimum being 247 km, which represents the 246 plus fallen members. Personally, the goal for myself is to swim 247 laps, bike for 247 minutes and aqua run 247 loops. My hope is as a team we can surpass my combined distance of 680 km from last year or at least get to 247 km as a total.”