Enough is Enough charity tour heading across Canada

For Ginny and Kerry Dennehy, the founders of the Kelty Foundation, riding across Canada is a massive endeavour. Yet, for them, that isn’t enough. In addition to their riding, they are engaged in a three-month tour that involves hosting dozens of events along the way. Perhaps then that is enough. Their bicycle journey across Canada is a means to fundraise and generate awareness surrounding youth mental health. The have called their campaign the Enough is Enough ride, which has a goal of helping 80 percent of those who are affected by mental health disease. The ride takes aim at a lack of resources for those who are suffering, at the negative stigma attached to the disease and at the fact that many deaths resulting from depression can be prevented. As with physical illness, mental illness stems from environmental, genetic and biological factors. The Kelty Foundation wants to develop accessible outreach programs for those with mental illness.

Since 2001, the Kelty Foundation has raised more than $5 million for mental health resources for youth.

The husband-and-wife team started their journey on May 12 in Whistler, B.C. Ginny and Kerry are riding thousands of kilometres across Canada to St. John’s, NL. They are scheduled to arrive on Aug. 11. Currently, they are in Ontario continuing their way east.

The trip has been going well. As with any trip, there are challenges. For Ginny and Kerry, wind slows them down, while transport trucks are unsettling. “Once again we face easterlies, which slow down our averages to 21 to 22 km/h,” said Kerry in her blog post on Monday. “The very real prospect of a semi-trailer swooshing by you three or four feet away at 110 km/h, sucking you forward as it passes, ranges from uncomfortable to scary,” said Kerry. Certainly riding across Canada is a serious and somewhat dangerous endeavour, yet the two continue on.

Visit the Enough is Enough site to follow their trek and to donate.