Queen’s charity Step Above Stigma (SAS) collaborated with a local Kingston athlete to raise awareness and money for supporting the mental health of Black Canadians.
On Nov. 4 and 5, SAS and Aaron Edgley hosted a 24-hour event called Aaron’s Record for Mental Health. The event was created to raise money for Black Health Alliance, a registered charity working to improve the health and well-being of Black Canadians.
Neither Step Above Stigma nor Edgley responded to The Journal’s request for comment at the time of publication.
Step Above Stigma collected the funds through a GoFundMe page and will donate them all to Black Health Alliance. The event surpassed its fundraising goal of $2,000 with a total of $2,060 raised.
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As part of the event, Edgley successfully set a new world record for the most kilometres and pull-ups completed in 24 hours. He ran back-to-back marathons and completed 1500 pull-ups over the course of the day.
Step Above Stigma live-streamed the event on its Instagram page.
“Aaron’s mental health journey has not been linear, but he has finally reached a better place and more notably, shares his story to encourage others to access mental health help,” the GoFundMe states. “He wants to help everyone improve their mental health so that they can have a happier and fulfilling life.”
Step Above Stigma is a recognized charity at Queen’s with the goal of improving access to mental health care across Canada and increasing public awareness of mental health.
All of the profits from their fundraisers go toward mental health organizations across Canada.
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In addition to being an ultra-endurance athlete, ex-powerlifting coach, and runner, Kingston-born Edgley is a mental health advocate.
“He saw how much running correlated with his mental health, as it dramatically improved,” the GoFundMe says. “As such, he now aspires to encourage others to utilize physical activity as a mechanism to improve their mental health.”
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