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NewsKelowna to have Steps for Life fundraiser for first time

Kelowna to have Steps for Life fundraiser for first time

If today is an average working day in Canada, three workers won’t come home from their jobs, killed by hazards from heights to equipment to toxic dust.

Thousands more will be injured, and all these tragedies cause waves of grief and difficulty for families, friends, co-workers and the wider community.

On May 3 our community will come together to honour those changed lives and prevent future tragedies. Steps for Life-Walking for Families of Workplace Tragedy is an annual event to boost awareness of workplace tragedy and raise funds for Threads of Life, a national charity. Threads of Life provides programs and services for workers and families affected by work-related deaths, serious injuries and occupational disease.

Rebecca Orr is one of those individuals. Rebecca’s husband Lance was a rigger on a construction site and was killed when a load of heavy concrete forms slipped from the chains of the crane overhead, crushing him.

“Being the spokesperson for the Kelowna Steps for Life walk gives me the chance to share my own personal story of a workplace fatality and living with the aftermath of that,” Rebecca says, “raising our daughter who never got a chance to meet her dad, how walking this road without him on my own is, and how it has changed me. Taking part in the Steps for Life walks every year gives me the opportunity to keep Lance’s memory alive while supporting other families who are going through the same thing. It also gives me a chance to support other communities and to raise awareness of the importance of workplace safety.”

Steps for Life is a fun 5-km walk that brings together those affected by workplace tragedies and the people and organizations committed to preventing them. Steps for Life-Kelowna will take place at City Park on May 3, 2025. To register or learn more, visit www.stepsforlife.ca.

“Threads of Life is such an important organization in helping families who have been affected by a workplace fatality, injury or Illness related to the job,” Rebecca adds. “Taking part by sharing my story while supporting others helps in my healing and my daughter’s healing as well; and that is why being a spokesperson means so much.”

With its first-ever Steps for Life event, Kelowna joins more than 30 communities across Canada. Local volunteers, businesses and families will join together to provide families with peer support, information, and the chance to share their stories to create safer workplaces. Join Kelowna in the national movement for prevention! Register for Steps for Life today.

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