When Joe Crump set out to train for the Cops for Cancer Tour de North team, he had no idea how touched he would by the children's stories he heard and how unifying that message would be.
At first it was simply a good cause - fundraising for pediatric cancer research and supporting kids with cancer - but as he visited classrooms, and as he heard stories about children afflicted with cancer, something in him shifted.
Crump brought that message to the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre, where he has worked as corrections officer for over 20 years.
For Crump, he feared the $3,000 he'd have to raise even more than the 1,500 kilometres in training he was expected to complete before the Sept. 15 to 21 ride from Dawson Creek to Williams Lake.
The response from staff was overwhelming, he said, but most moving was the $1,027 donated by inmates.
"It surprised us all. It certainly shocked the hell out of me," said Crump, a supervisor and custody case coordinator.
"To have an incarcerated population managed by corrections staff and then a member of that correction staff on a ride for cops. To be able to get past through those two potential perceptual barriers to get to kids that need their help, is enormous."
But for Alan Teschuk, the correctional centre's aboriginal Programs coordinator, it wasn't about barriers at all.
Teschuk was the one who heard Crump's message and took it to the inmates. He said it ties in with ongoing conversations he has, where the focus is less about forgiveness and more about moving forward.
"It's more about accountability, know what you've done, take ownership for what you've done," said Teschuk who likes to use a metal as a metaphor with the inmates for living life.
"If copper is taken from its natural environment, it doesn't matter how beautiful it is, it tarnishes," said Teschuk, who helps run daily sweat lodge and smudging ceremonies.
"Use this opportunity to polish that copper, to remember who you are and see that beauty within yourself and giving back as opposed to be angry and use that environment, to tarnish yourself and get further and further away from your true self."
What was incredible to Crump was that these inmates, who made from $1.50 to $9 a day working in the jail, would be willing to donate money for nothing in return. That's how the first half of the money was raised; the rest was made by selling bannock - an idea the women inmates came up to contribute to the cause.
For Crump's part, he spoke also of being humbled by the courage of children dealing with cancer.
That idea resonated in discussions Teschuk had with the men.
"These are the true warriors, these are the ones that are truly battling," Teschuk said they'd say.
"Over the years what have you done with that good health?" he'd ask and they'd say, "'Yeah, I took all that for granted.'"
"I think sometimes we underestimate how much is still in there, the caring and how much they're willing to give and show," he said.
While the facility couldn't arrange an inmate interview, Crump spoke with a 24-year-old recent father named Ryan about why he donated.
Cancer runs in Ryan's family, Crump said, and his message was a simple one:
"It doesn't matter who's running a program to help the kids, so long as it's for the kids."
Crump said it's also the important the community understand the jail is more than a "containment facility," one that helps offenders rehabilitate and work their way back into the community in positive ways.
As Crump starts his 850-kilometre trek Tuesday, he'll be a leaving the centre a little changed from when he started the journey last spring.
"There was sort of a subtle effect in both directions," Crump said, after news spread of the size of the inmate donation "in that staff were reminded that the clientele have struggles of their own, families of their own and that they too have an interest in the wellness of our community."
Crump raised more than $4,100 this year for the first ride open to corrections officers.
For more information on the ride, which will pass through 10 northern communities, visit tourdenorth.ca.
