Skip to main content
opinion

Curtis Hargrove ties on his running shoes behind his camper Tuesday, July 3, 2012 on a Saint-Romuald Que. shopping centre parking lot.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press

Curtis Hargrove owes Quebec police a debt of gratitude: The arrest of the Alberta marathoner after he refused to remove himself from the Trans-Canada Highway has brought national attention to his campaign to raise $1-million for the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton. On Sunday, the 44th day of his cross-Canada run, Mr. Hargrove was warned by police to get off the controlled-access highway; he refused and only got out of jail after he promised to use an alternative route. He has raised only $14,000 to date, but if online outrage over his arrest is any indication, he can expect a lot more soon.

More quietly, on the other side of the country, a Vancouver couple has given $30-million to pay the operating costs of supportive housing for mentally ill homeless people. The unusual donation – most donors make commitments to capital campaigns, not ongoing expenses – has encouraged that city to commit $10-million to renovating Taylor Manor, a former long-term care facility. All told, it will take 56 people off the streets.

While Mr. Hargrove bangs the drum with his daily Facebook postings, the Vancouver couple have chosen to remain anonymous. That may be true altruism – or it may reflect an understandable desire to avoid both the spotlight and further appeals. Charities usually prefer donors who use their names, and thus act as an incentive to others.

Yet both the anonymous Vancouverites and Mr. Hargrove, himself inspired by Terry Fox, are models for us all. What unites them is their refusal to look aside where they see need and their insistence on taking personal action. The Vancouver couple was jolted by the sight of a street youth panhandling outside a theatre one night, determined something had to be done, and spent two years researching before their gift took its final shape. Mr. Hargrove, who previously raised money for the Terry Fox Foundation by running across Alberta and British Columbia, chose the Stollery Hospital after he heard the story of Delaney Saunders, a 10-year-old Albertan girl whose cancer has been treated there.

In his encounter with police, the runner was, by his own admission "a little stubborn." Whether they are endowed with deep pockets or tough feet, it's the stubbornness of philanthropists that's inspiring.

Interact with The Globe