Calgarians climb 802 steps of Calgary Tower to raise funds in tribute to Connor Vanderveen

A Calgary family raises money for special needs children in Mexico in memory of their son Connor.

Close to 100 people climbed all 802 steps up the Calgary Tower on Saturday to raise funds and awareness for a good cause.

Staff from Emily Follensbee School hosted 85 people who put on their climbing shoes to raise funds for Mexico’s Canadian Angels Foundation.

The charity was started in honour of Connor Vanderveen, who was a student at Emily Follensbee when he died in 2011 from a rare genetic illness called Hunter Syndrome.

When Connor was diagnosed with the illness, it led to two unanticipated outcomes, said Connor’s mom Geraldine in an interview with CTV Calgary Saturday. The Vanderveens found themselves spending more time in Puerto Vallarta area, where Geraldine’s parents lived, and they also discovered, back home in Calgary, an outpouring of support for Connor from the staff at Ellen Follensbee School and the hospitals where he received treatment.

It made the family want to help kids down in Mexico who didn’t have access to the same kinds of resources.

“We wanted to share that with the people in Puerto Vallarta who have nothing,” Geraldine said, “who don’t have any programs, don’t have food for these kids. So it became kind of a bit of a sisterhood, or, if you will, brotherhood, of replicating kind of what we have here in Calgary and bringing that gift to the people in Puerto Vallarta.”

The foundation helps funds programs that service children with special needs in the Puerto Vallarta area of Mexico. One recent project was to rehome an organization called Pasitos de Luz, which moved from a 700 sq. foot space into a purpose-built 20,000 sq. foot facility the organization calls a “castle.”

The goal for Saturday’s event was to raise $25,000, but despite having fewer people climbing the tower than they did in 2024, they’ve already surpassed the goal, passing $40,000.

Geraldine said why not raise even more?

“Let’s go for $50,000,” she said. “Anybody can still donate if they want to, until midnight tonight,

“Let’s do all we can to help the kids in the Puerto Vallarta area.”

For more information, go here.

With files from CTV’s Tyler Barrow and Timm Bruch