Spirits were high at OPP General Headquarters in Orillia on Saturday morning as more than 100 cyclists took part in the Wounded Warriors Canada National Ride for Mental Health.
“This will be the first in, hopefully, a succession of events that take place here annually for the ride for mental health, and we hope you come back again next year,” Steve Topham, Wounded Warriors Canada ride director, and director of fundraising and events, said as he addressed the teams and volunteers before setting off.
Wounded Warriors is a charitable organization that aims to support veterans, first responders and their families through fundraising and mental health programs. The ride in Orillia involved a team of Ontario Provincial Police members, along with connected individuals and avid cyclists from many neighbouring areas.
Grant Todd and Sushana Uthayachandran are from Richmond Hill and travelled to Orillia, excited to take part in the 65-kilometre route. Todd owns a cycling service protection establishment and knows a number of police officers and individuals who work dispatch in the industry; he came out to support them.
“These are people who come when we call, so why not do what we can to help out when they need it? This is the least we can do,” he said.
The OPP fundraising team gathered to complete the 130-km route. They left at 9:30 a.m., while the 65-km route commenced at 11 a.m. The OPP team embarked to raise $20,000 and were sitting at just over half of that by 10 a.m.
York Regional Police officer and Wounded Warriors ambassador Andy Cook works in recruitment and does anything he can to support the cause. In 2021, he was involved in the Wounded Warriors pilot project.
“There’s always work to do surrounding mental health,” he said. “In my personal opinion, if we invested more in mental health programs, then things like leadership, integrity, work ethic, everything else is also taken care of. If you take care of your mental health, everything else falls in place.”
Among the police officers present was Matthew Shamon, who graduated from the program last September. He was one of two who volunteered to join Cook riding for Wounded Warriors in France.
“There are a lot of challenges and ups and downs (in this line of work). If you care about what you’re doing, it’s all worth it,” said Shamon.
Wounded Warriors had members present at a number of events across the country Saturday.
“We have 30 people riding in Ottawa. We’ve got 40 that are riding with the Homewood crew in Guelph. We have another 15 that are riding in Victoria on the island, along with others in Calgary,” said Topham.
The amount of work they do is far and wide, even within Canada.
“The challenge with this is that it’s an international organization, so we’re doing multiple things at once,” Topham said, noting there was also an event in Halifax with service dogs.
OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique has been working with Wounded Warriors for a decade. He rode the distance from Trenton to Toronto in 2019, when the event was known as the Highway for Heroes Ride for Mental Health.
Being a non-competitive event, “anyone can ride,” said Carrique. He also mentioned other ways people can “lean in and lend support.”
“It’s a charitable organization, so donate, participate in the number of activities, get involved and engaged to support the people who are doing the activities.”
Many of the riders in Orillia on Saturday know the importance of taking care of both mental and physical health.
“Mind, body, spirit — they work hand in hand. Mental health work is never done; there’s always learning to do and programming to organize for the cause,” said Carrique.
In the pursuit to raise awareness and funds for trauma-exposed professionals, donations are open for the rest of the month. More information is available at woundedwarriorscanada.akaraisin.com/ui/OPP.
