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Joan Thomlinson has just one goal for her 99th birthday: to support children who are unwell.
By the end of May, this lady from Cambridge, Ont., will have completed 99 laps around the walking path at her retirement home. She began walking early in the month and plans to finish up the last few laps on May 30. The fundraiser wraps up on May 31.
She hopes her effort will raise at least $3,099 for Ronald Mc Donald House Charities, a nonprofit that helps families stay near their sick kids while they get medical treatment.
“I just tell myself ‘you’ve got to do it,’ and I just do it,” she said. “You have to keep moving. It’s healthy.”
Joan Thomlinson (right) has so many certificates from her past fundraising efforts that she needed Erica Boer, a Seasons Retirement Community staff member, to help her hold all of them up at once. Thomlinson wants to raise $3,099 for charity to celebrate her 99th birthday this year. (Aastha Shetty/CBC)
Thomlinson says she picked Ronald Mc Donald House because she wants to help kids. Last year, on her 98th birthday, she raised money for Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. The year before that, on her 97th birthday, she raised funds for the Cambridge Food Bank – which served 2,363 children in just the first four months this year.
Her birthday is actually in March but she moved the fundraiser to May so she’d have better weather for walking.
“I just walk the track. It’s nice. And if I’m lucky, I can get some of the other residents to come and walk with me,” she said.
“It’s important to me because who else is going to do it?”
‘She’s inspiring others’
Erica Boer works at Seasons Retirement Community where Joan lives now. She’s been working closely with Joan for three years since Joan first came up with these charity walks.
“I think she is so well loved here and she really inspires others to participate in things, not just in her fundraisers — but in the community in general,” Boer said.
“All of the celebrations we’ve had at the end of her last two fundraisers, we’ve had some of our biggest turnouts for events because everyone wants to cheer Joan on.”
Boer adds that Joan reminds people you’re never too young or old to make a difference.
“She said to me that she feels like she’s doing something so small walking for charity, but I don’t think she realizes she’s inspiring others,” Boer said.
Joan says she’s inspired by Captain Tom Moore, a British Army officer who walked for charity before turning 100 in April 2020. He raised nearly £33 million (over $58 million) thanks to support from places as far as North America and Japan.
“I thought if he can do it, I can do it. And that’s how it all started! Thanks to Captain Tom,” she said.
“[Friends and family] think it’s a darn good idea!”>
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