Grade 3 student raises money to help fight addiction

Theodore Mason is quite the little athlete who likes to run and with the help of his mother Megan came up with the idea to run for a cause. The 8-year-old was given an assignment at school to do a project that would positively affect a person, place or an animal.

"So I chose people," said Theodore. "I raised money for the Grace House with a five kilometre run."

He managed to raise $905 by running from Nacmine to Drumheller where the recovery home is located.

"Addiction has touched our family personally," said Megan. "I know a lot of families that have been affected by it so when me and Theo we're brainstorming about what can we do for this school project, I just mentioned the Grace House and the second I mentioned it to Theo he was on board and it just did something to his heart, it really spoke to him."

Theodore didn't expect to raise almost a thousand dollars.

"I thought we were only getting like $50 or $100," he said. "A $100 like max."

The Grace House opened in 1990 and is an Alberta Health Services licensed facility. Its waiting list is three months long and right now there are ten men in treatment for addiction.

Shaun Watson is the facility manager and went through the program himself. He was the point of contact for Theodore and his mom Megan and is impressed by the boy's initiative.

"There's that big stigma and nobody likes to talk about it so for some little guy to show that he cared enough (for the men in treatment) to raise some money to help them out in their journeys says lot," said Watson. "It can help turn some people around."

HELPING WITH THE JOURNEY

Watson says the facility gets its funding through AHS but more money is raised annually to pay for additional programming. He'd like to see the $905 that Theodore raised pay for a camping field trip for the men in recovery.

"In addiction you forget about all the things that you used to like and you forget that there's life after addiction," Watson said. "Going and having these experiences, something that says hey you know what, that's fun, I like doing that, it helps a lot of these guys on their journey."

Theodore's grade three classmates are all doing well in the community. He's excited to see what the others come up with.

"Since I was the first," said Theodore. "The second one, he helped the pet store get a bunch of cat food."

Learn more about the Grace House here: www.grace-house.ca