A student-led school fundraiser for the Ben Stelter Foundation has grown exorbitantly in its efforts to raise money to build an advanced cancer treatment facility not yet available in Canada. Across Edmonton and surrounding areas, 50 schools raised $285,000 for the Ben Stelter Centre for Proton Therapy and Neuroscience, a proton beam therapy centre the foundation wants to build in the city. On Tuesday, south Edmonton’s Allendale School won a draw for an assembly featuring none other than the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid, who also acts as ambassador for the Ben Stelter Foundation. McDavid told the gym assembly the money raised has made this year’s efforts the largest kid-run fundraiser across Canada. “Kids helping kids, it’s a special thing,” he told media after meeting with the students. “What’s the one thing I hope they take away? I hope it’s the power of community, what together, we can all do for each other, to help one another.” “I think that Ben would be proud … he was only a young boy, but he brought a lot of people together, and that’s what made him so special.” Ben Stelter died at age six in 2022 of brain cancer. The eponymous foundation was made in his honour to support families whose children are fighting cancer through medical equipment donations, children’s wish experiences and collaborating with research institutes. Proton beam therapy is a form of radiation treatment currently available in every G7 country except for Canada, which is why the foundation is looking to build the country’s first-ever facility. The foundation recently raised more than $1 million during Ben’s Cup, a hockey fundraiser. This student initiative was founded by 16-year-old Aariz Mawji in 2023, when one school raised $11,000 for the foundation. “Ben brought so much positivity and encouragement to our community, and we want to carry that forward and his legacy forward,” he said on Tuesday. In December 2023, five schools raised $43,000. In 2024, 10 schools raised more than $74,000. The Ben Stelter Foundation said in a press release that it had secured “virtually everything” to begin on Canada’s first proton beam therapy facility, except for approval from the Government of Alberta, and hopes to break ground this year. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall
