A Williams Lake society group dedicated to raising money for early cancer detection equipment for the Cariboo Memorial Hospital is riding off into the sunset.
Since it was founded back in 1972, the Hough Memorial Cancer Fund Society has raised over $3 and a half million through a variety of fundraising efforts.
“We’re all older, our average age is 78,” President Mary Telfer said, “and we’re all tired. We cannot get any volunteers, we’ve tried every avenue to find some to keep it going, and the younger generation, 60 and under just do not want to volunteer for anything.”
Telfer remembers how the Society came to be 52-years ago.
“Lillian Hough started it after her husband Bill passed away from cancer. Bill was well known around the community and everyone wanted to do something for him so she decided that a group should start supplementing the hospital with cancer detection equipment. It grew to over 60 people and now it is down to 7 people.”
Teler said the Society put on many different fundraising events during it’s time that included the famous “Bed Races” that ran down Oliver Street between Second and Third Avenues.
“We had a lot of fun with that, it was a very good fundraiser, but again, we got too old to run it and we couldn’t get any younger people to carry on with it so we had to let it go. Then we started with the Parade of Choirs. The choirs in Williams Lake, Quesnel and 100 Mile House would all get together in May and do a concert with all donations going to the Hough Memorial Cancer Fund.”
Over the years the Society mostly purchased scopes for the surgeons to do early detection of cancer and in 2017 they purchased digital endoscopy imaging system.
“We know it’s going to take a year to shut down the society,” Telfer said, “so we’ve already made the invoices for three recliners and one lift chair for when cancer patients have to sit there for five hours and have their radiation, and we’re going to buy some more scopes. When we find out how much money we have left we will probably buy more scopes and we’ve already asked the hospital if there’s anything else they want.”
Telfer noted the Society greatly appreciates the generosity of the community over all those years but they just can’t find anybody to help them carry it on.