FORT KENT, Maine – This year’s Tour de la Vallee was the most successful in its 34-year history, raising a total of $46,375 to help cancer patients and their families – shattering last year’s record of $31,300 raised.
“We were significantly over what we raised last year,” said Nichole Jandreau, Marketing and Communications Manager at Fort Kent’s Northern Maine Medical Center. “We thought that was phenomenal.”
Momentum has continued after the success of last year’s event, which included the addition of options for ATVs and motorcycles in addition to several other activities. This year’s event featured half a dozen unique vendors at the Riverside Park Lion’s Pavilion.
The tour began as a way to benefit the Edgar J. Paradis Cancer Fund. The fund was named after St. John Valley resident Guy Paradis, who had erythroleukemia and needed to receive treatment in Portland. He often felt isolated from friends and family while receiving treatment. He later willed start-up funding to help cancer patients and their loved ones with travel and lodging expenses when visiting a relative getting treatment at a distant facility.
The fund is administered by Northern Maine Medical Center. The hospital’s Paradis Cancer Fund Board is also primarily responsible for organizing the event.
This year’s event had nearly 60 sponsors. Additionally, Jandreau said some of the vendors opted to give away some of their proceeds toward the cancer fund.
“We didn’t even ask them to,” she said. “They just did that. They didn’t even let us know until the day of – they just wanted to participate and give back. It was really nice.”
The event saw 66 registrants overall and roughly 200 attendees throughout the day.
“We had so many special and wonderful people participate including all of our corporate sponsors and two young girls from Grand Isle who ran a lemonade stand and raised over $500 to donate to the fund,” she said.
Looking ahead, they hope to continue hosting the fundraising event for years to come.
“We’re just really proud of the outcome,” Jandreau said. “We’re so thankful that we get to do this every year and help as many families as we do. We’re looking forward to doing it next year, and we’ve already got some really big ideas.”
