Cycling event to remember Const. Marc Hovingh
Almost 10 months to the day that Const. Marc was killed, family, friends and even strangers will cycle both on Manitoulin Island and virtually Saturday.
It's the first annual Marc Hovingh Memorial Island Ride.
“It’s a great fundraiser just for youth who are in need,” said Lianne Hovingh, Marc’s wife. "It can be anything from shoes or winter coats, extra tutoring or help with going to university."
While it’s free to participate, those taking part are being encouraged to make a donation to the OPP Youth Foundation.
“(It) funds disadvantaged youth,” said Const. Marie Ford, of the OPP Manitoulin detachment. "It helps them realize their potential. It really assists the OPP in creating good, positive relationships with youth."
Lianne Hovingh said the event is a fitting tribute her husband.
“He would just be that really good listening ear and would always make himself available for youth who were in need and that’s just Marc’s heart," she said.
"He just loved to help. He, just in his quiet way, he would make a big impact on youth's lives but never in the forefront, never for everybody to see. It was actually more after his death that I would hear from family members (about) the difference he would make.”
Cyclists will travel 33-136 kilometres on Saturday. The hope is to continue the event for years to come.
“It's an incredible chance for us to just get the wind on our bodies, get some exercise and just remember an incredibility wonderful man who we miss so much,” said Ford.
Hovingh said she wishes there was a better way to express how she feels rather than just thank you. She said the love and support both her and her four children have felt since Marc’s passing has been surrounding them.
“It’s just so greatly appreciated," she said. "It has definitely lifted us up and yeah I just can’t thank everybody enough and I do just want to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart.”
For more information on the ride or to donate to the OPP Youth Foundation click here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.