A Portage family has been keeping a tradition for about six years now entitled the White Envelope. Beckie Verwey says she and her family just completed their most recent edition and presented Central Plains Cancer Services with $6,000 as a result.

$6,000!She notes they do a different version every year around Christmas.

"It's probably not unique to our family, but every year we decide to do something in the community or for somebody," says Verwey. "We help somebody. And then on Christmas Day, after we open our gifts, we read what we've done in our White Envelope and then we look forward to how we can challenge ourselves and do something bigger next year."

She notes they completed the latest effort on January 3rd.

"But we had decided to do it at the beginning of December," explains Verwey. "We decided to raise money for Central Plains Cancer Services. In order to do that, we came up with the idea to do a 24-hour relay just on our treadmill at home. Obviously, we live in Manitoba and it's cold outside, so that allowed us to keep going for the full 24 hours. I have three kids and my husband. So, between the five of us, we went one at a time on the treadmill for the whole 24 hours. So, it's just under five hours each."

Verwey says participants included herself, her oldest daughter 19-year-old Karlie, 17-year-old Graham McCutcheon, 15-year-old Parker McCutcheon, and her husband Conrad Verwey.

"It's super-exciting for our family," adds Verwey. "We really look forward to the idea that we come up with for a White Envelope. Obviously, this was a big undertaking for us. There was a little bit of nervousness, having to be up overnight in the middle of the night walking on the treadmill. But we were all super-excited as a family. It was really fun. We threw some costumes in there to liven it up throughout the evening. My kids had the best attitude. It's so exciting when we have our community that backs us. We have an amazing friend circle who supports us and is blown away by how much we were able to raise for Central Plains."

Promotion picture

Verwey says past efforts included baking cookies with some other folks for an entire apartment building, and that was done more than once.

"We've come together and raised money for new tires for somebody who couldn't afford them, and we've bought gifts for a family who didn't have the finances to do that for their kids," continues Verwey. "We volunteered at the Salvation Army, and there's kind of a plethora of things that we come up with every year."

Parker, Graham, Karlie, Beckie & Conrad 

She explains they were able to obtain a pledge sheet from Central Plains Cancer Services.

"Then we just handed those out with our kids and between Conrad and myself, and we just asked around," continues Verwey. "We did a little caricature of our family during this 24-hour relay in sort of a Simpsons pose. That created a little bit of humour and some buzz. People were just willing to donate. We had people contribute a dollar per kilometre. That incentivized us to really keep going. And then we had people giving us $10.00 an hour for every hour we're on the treadmill. We just have great community supporting us, being creative and donating so much."

Very says if you'd like to participate and donate toward that 24-hour relay, you can do so directly with Central Plains Cancer Services. She notes it's not too late to add to those donations.

"Conrad and myself both lost a parent to cancer and his father utilized the drive program during his treatments," adds Verwey.

Sharilyn KnoxCentral Plains Cancer Services executive director Sharilyn Knox explains how she came to hear about it.

"They approached us about their act of kindness that they do during the holiday season," says Knox. "They've been doing it since 2015, and this year they chose us as the recipient. What a great initiative that this family has done and we're so grateful to all their family and friends who supported them as well."

She says this is called a third-party event, meaning that people approach the services, and the organization helps by giving them pledge sheets and information about their organization so that they can promote it when they do it.

"But I had no idea that it would be this successful, so we're thrilled," adds Knox.