POINT EDWARD – Cathy Robertson was asked if any memories of Marg Stewart came to mind Sunday morning leading up to a memorial walk for her friend.
“Marg’s in my thoughts every day,” Robertson responded. “She really is.”
“She is,” fellow friend Anita Trusler said at the event. “Marg is with us every single day.”
Stewart died unexpectedly at home on Jan. 20, her Sarnia obituary says. She was 57.
Robertson, Trusler, other friends, family, and colleagues from the fitness community – the longtime GoodLife instructor launched GroupWorks at Ironworks gym – honored Stewart’s memory Sunday by walking from near the bandshell in Canatara Park to the Blue Water Bridge and back.
“Amazing turnout,” Robertson said. “Obviously Marg touched a lot of lives.”
Near the bridge, the group gathered in front of the memorial bench for Noelle Paquette. Stewart was a friend of Paquette and her family and organized the Noelle’s Gift of Fitness after the kindergarten teacher’s death in early 2013.
The one-day event raised a significant amount of money each year for Noelle’s Gift, the legacy charity established in Paquette’s honor that raises funds to purchase school supplies, clothes and meals for schoolchildren in need.
“We raised $86,000 in one day,” Robertson recalled.
Noelle’s Gift of Fitness was paused when the pandemic arrived and turned into Count Your Ks in May, a kilometer-tracking fundraiser that last year brought in $60,000.
To simultaneously remember Stewart and mark the start of the 31-day personal challenge-based event, her daughters, MacKinleigh and Alex, and multiple Paquette family members tied blue ribbons to the bench. A basket of ribbons has been left there, with organizers encouraging Count Your Ks in May participants and community members to tie more ribbons as they pass through the area over the next four-plus weeks.
“We’re going to be able to see each other’s kindred spirit, participation as through the month of May we’ll see more and more ribbons tied on this bench,” Trusler said.
The ribbons will be taken down at the end of the month. There will also be a closing ceremony, featuring a sunset yoga session and an update on the fundraising campaign, on May 31 at 7 pm at the Seaway Kiwanis Pavilion.
Although Count Your Ks in May is already underway, there’s still time to join, Robertson said.
“A lot of people have signed up, but it’s never too late to sign up because it’s a month-long event,” Robertson said. “You can jump in at any point.”
-with files from Tyler Kula