Wounded Warrior Run BC is spanning most of Vancouver Island, including along Hwy 4 to Port Alberni. (Wounded Warrior Run BC)

By Ian Holmes

Important cause

Wounded Warrior run aims to raise cash and bury misconceptions

Mar 4, 2022 | 2:33 PM

NANAIMO — A small relay team passing through Nanaimo intends to make a big difference in the lives of emergency responders mentally injured by their professions.

Members from Wounded Warrior Run BC are in Nanaimo on Friday, March 4, featuring an eight-member relay squad jogging the length of Vancouver Island in a single week.

Laurie Grubb is particularly eager to meet the team fighting for a battle she knows all too well.

The kitchen manager of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 256 said her husband is a veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

She said he is disabled with acute PTSD, and is almost always “bunkering up” at home.

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“I’ll manage to get him out for a few veterans’ luncheons at the legion here occasionally, but primarily he just stays home, he feels safe there,” Grubb said candidly.

She’s tasked with making 100 spaghetti dinners in support of a Wounded Warrior event at the legion on Friday night.

In addition to raising money for mental health supports and services for Vancouver Island-based uniformed emergency responders, Grubb hopes more awareness among the general public follows.

She believes the public at large is becoming more aware of the plight facing front-line emergency responders.

“It’s hard to relate to somebody whose seen the devastation, the gore and deaths that our first responders have seen and have to go home, deal with it and just sort of turn it off,” Grubb said.

A Wounded Warrior Run BC participants converge on Royal Canadian Legion Branch 256 on East Wellington Rd. on the evening of Friday, March 4. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

This year’s regional Wounded Warrior Run intends to raise $250,000, funds that will remain on Vancouver Island. More than $100,000 has already been raised so far.

Numerous dignitaries will be at Legion 256 on East Wellington Rd. Friday night, including Nanaimo MLA Sheila Malcolmson, a staunch supporter of the Wounded Warrior movement.

The annual Wounded Warrior Run BC participants and support staff are scheduled to complete its 600-kilometre journey in Victoria on Sunday, March 6.

This year’s team of runners are making a 45-kilometre jaunt between Parksville and Nanaimo on Friday, visiting several legions along the way.

Donations to Wound Warrior Run BC can be made here.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes