Pitching in: ‘Hope Run’ aims to make wishes come true

The organizers: Stephen, David, Lori, Kelly and Mark Scragg, Meagan Ziedins

The pitch: Raising $455,000

The cause: Make-A-Wish Canada Foundation

Like a lot of people in their 20s, Stephen Scragg had dreams of success and hoped to get involved in philanthropy one day.

“I was 24 at the time and the plan was to just donate to charity when I was old and rich,” recalled Mr. Scragg, now 35. But when a family friend died, Mr. Scragg’s thinking changed.

“I was like; ‘it’s not a guarantee that I’m going to end up old. And I might not get rich, so I should try and do some stuff right now’,” he said. “So that kind of got the wheels turning and since I didn’t have any money, I thought ‘I’m going to have to do a fundraiser.’”

He lived in Edmonton at the time and started planning a charity fun run around his neighbourhood. He wanted the money to have an immediate impact on a child or a family facing difficulty and he settled on the Make-A-Wish Canada Foundation, which provides children with critical illnesses a chance to realize their wishes.

With the help of his parents – David and Lori Scragg – and his siblings – Kelly, Mark and Megan Ziedins – Mr. Scragg held the inaugural Hope Run in September, 2016. Around 250 people participated, and the event raised about $60,000.

The family has held the five-kilometre run every year since, except during the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve raised $445,000 in total so far, and the 2026 run takes place Sept. 13.

Mr. Scragg moved to Toronto in 2018 to study, and he remained in the city after joining the Canada Infrastructure Bank as an investment associate. He still spends as much time as possible in Edmonton and continues to help organize the Hope Run with his family.

This year he has entered a Hope Run team in Toronto’s Constantine Yorkville Run on Sept. 20. It raises money for a wide variety of charities and Mr. Scragg is hoping to sign up 70 runners for Make-A-Wish. If all goes well both events – in Toronto and Edmonton – will put the Scraggs over the $500,000 mark in total donations.

He never dreamed a decade ago that he would become this involved in philanthropy in his 30s. And his life is richer for it. The charity world “is just filled with a lot of good people. So I would say as time has gone on, it’s just been a fun experience of meeting good individuals.”