2023-09-20

B.C. couple’s cross-Canada fundraising, anniversary tour makes South Shore stop

BRIDGEWATER - A B.C. couple paying tribute to their late son by raising thousands of dollars to underline the importance of addictions and mental health programs, in conjunction with their own 50th wedding anniversary, passed through the South Shore in their cross-Canada journey.

For Lorraine and Chuck Marr, from the Langley area, it was their first time in Lunenburg and Queens counties. LighthouseNOW reached the Marr's by phone while they were westbound to Yarmouth County.

"I loved the Maritime shipping history," said Chuck, who met up a day or so earlier with a former work colleague from their time in the building industry, Peter Simpson of the Dayspring.

"It's a beautiful area and Peter took us on a tour," added Lorraine. "We would have loved to have stayed longer, it was so nice."

At the time of the interview, the Marr's had raised $83,000 toward Project Resiliency, a support program for young people battling mental health and substance-use challenges in their home city. They hope other places in the country copy the free program for in their communities.

When they first tied the knot, the Marr's travelled cross-country in a Volkswagen van for nearly three months, stopping short of Newfoundland and Labrador because a labour dispute that disrupted ferry service.

This time, with an upgraded vehicle, and, in honouring the memory of their son Todd, who died by suicide in 2009 following a struggle with drug addiction, set a goal of raising $50,000 toward programs benefiting those fighting similar fights in British Columbia.

They've secured many monetary donations during their trip above-and-beyond what they expected.

"We're overwhelmed at the response and support," Lorraine said.

The Marr's said their son, who was just 32 when he died, would embrace their fundraising efforts.

"We feel we can talk about it and we want to make sure people are not afraid to talk about it," Chuck said. "We want to share with others our journey, so they don't have to struggle like we did."

Some of that financial support toward Project Resiliency has come from the golf community.

"When our son died, we were able to go on the golf course and forget our troubles," Chuck said. "We could walk and get exercise; it was therapeutic for us."

Todd was a quiet but active person, enjoying the outdoors and, in his later years, he was a stone mason and created eye-popping work in his profession. Depression and anxiety was also in his life and he turned to drugs, starting with marijuana, before escalating to ecstasy, cocaine and crystal meth.

The Marr's tried to help their son numerous times. "We did the best we thought we could have," Chuck said.

Since that time, they've found strength in each other and are focusing on raising money for the prevention and awareness blueprint that wasn't available when Todd was in school.

To learn more about Project Resiliency, the overall fundraising effort, donating and Todd Marr, go to https://www.50kfor50marr.ca.