The community of Kitwanga east of Terrace on Hwy16 is marking a decade-long effort to build an emergency services building with its annual Humpy Run Sept. 7.
Coloured and numbered wooden cut outs of a humpy, the name given to male pink salmon who develop a humped back during spawning season, are floated down the Kitwanga River.
Those who buy tickets matching the numbers on the cut outs win prizes if their fish are the first to cross a finish line.
This year is also the 10th annual Humpy Run and each one since the first has contributed to the $400,000 in cash and commitments raised so far for an emergency services building consisting of ambulance and fire truck bays as well as offices and training space.
Donations from mining and mining services companies have been a major factor in the community reaching that $400,000 mark.
The current ambulance station is in a former forest service building leased to the province and while there have been some renovations, it falls short of the standard of ambulance stations elsewhere in rural and remote communities.
Kitwanga [along with neighbouring Gitwangak] is 100 kilometres east of Terrace and 50 kilometres west of New Hazelton, meaning that emergency services have some distance to travel.
But the money raised so far is about one-third of what the community needs for an emergency services building and its 10 years of effort has not met with any success from applications for local, provincial or federal government grants.
The community has either been told by any number of public sector agencies it doesn't qualify for help because of where it is located or that an emergency services building is not a candidate for a grant.
That has not deterred the community which this summer has sent way three more grant applications.
In the meantime, its Sept. 7 Humpy Run has 500 tickets for sale at $20 a piece. The email address for more information is kitwangahumpyrun2022@hotmail.com.
