Carol Packer is biking 100 kilometers per day to raise funds for mental health awareness and fighting addiction.
She keeps going until she reaches 1300 kilometres, the distance between her and her brother Lee Earnshaw when she died of a drug overdose last year in Winnipeg.
“It’s so important that we reduce the barriers and stigma that people face,” Packer said.
Packer’s goal is to raise $7,500 for the St. Boniface Street Lynx, a Winnipeg organization working to reduce overdose deaths. This is a team Earnshaw knew well when he lived in a tent by the Seine River.
Marion Willis, founder of St. Boniface Street Links, says Earnshaw tried to get help several times before her death, but faced constant roadblocks at detox centers and facilities.
FILE – Signs are displayed in a tent during a health event on June 26, 2021 in Charleston, W.Va. Attempts to hold drug companies, pharmacies, and distributors accountable for their role in the opioid crisis have sparked a whirlwind of legal activity around the United States. New legal agreements are being made practically every week to provide funds to governments to fight the crisis, and in some cases to reverse the amount of funding for drugs or to help with treatments. (AP photo/John Raby, file).
“It was a vicious cycle of multiple attempts for Lee to get help,” Willis said. “Each time he would inevitably have to return to his fishing tent on the shore at the scene.”
Packer says the money raised from his cycling tour in Alberta will go toward replacing a bike from the St. Boniface Street Links that was stolen this year.
She says her message is clear. “You have compassion for those who are suffering and who are homeless or suffering from mental health and addictions.”
The investigation into her brother’s death is set to begin in the fall of 2023.
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