HOULTON, Maine — Bridge to Hope, a local group that has been helping people battling cancer for nearly two decades, hopes to draw several hundred people to Riverfront Park on Saturday.
The annual Bridge to Hope Cancer Walk raises money that goes directly to patients and their families.
“In the 20 years it’s been going, we have given out just under $470,000,” co-founder Kim Folsom said. “Last year’s walk raised just under $35,000. This year [we’re] shooting for $40,000.”
Cathy Kennedy started the first walk in 2006, which raised about $400. But since then, word traveled about the women and their efforts to help people and families dealing with cancer, and the donations have multiplied each year — mostly through word of mouth.
Folsom, who was going through radiation treatments for breast cancer at the time, participated in that initial Bridge to Hope walk, and joined Kennedy in her efforts to reach out and help people.
That first year they distributed $25 gas cards to help patients get to treatments. Now, the first donation is a $500 gas card and the assistance is not limited to one. If someone exhausts the card, they can ask for another, Folsom said.
The five core members of the group — Folsom, Dee Henderson, Marie Carmichael and Pam and Amy Hocking — hand deliver all the donations they give, making personal connections at a time when people need them.
“I don’t care if you’re the richest person or the poorest person, when you hear the words ‘You’ve got cancer,’ everybody is affected the same darn way,” Folsom said.
All of the money that comes in goes back out to the community, and someone could receive as much as $5,000 before the battle is done, she said.
The small group of women works quietly in the background, and many people in the community don’t really know what Bridge to Hope is until it affects them. That’s how their numbers have grown, Folsom said.
“We do it all by word of mouth,” she said. “The families we help come back the next year.”
Beside travel assistance to treatments, they offer other aid based on what people need. For those on hospice care at home, they have given grocery store or restaurant gift cards.
“Sometimes someone says the tires on their car won’t get them to treatment through the winter, or their car needs brakes and rotors,” she said. “We completely customize donations based on somebody’s needs.”
The group does not ask questions and they do not verify income, Folsom said.
“We don’t want to do that,” she said.
The registration for the walk begins at 9 a.m.and the walk starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, in Riverfront Park in Houlton. It starts with a program, including a raffle for a quilt made by Pam and Amy Hocking, two of the group’s five core members. There are also survivor prizes and a few other raffle items.
While the attendees walk along the river, organizers count the donations brought in for the walk from groups and individuals. The total raised is generally posted at the park by 11 a.m.
Bridge to Hope’s overall goal to eventually dissolve because researchers found a cure for cancer.
“We are hoping the next generation will see that,” Folsom said.
