Following her diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis, a Cobourg woman has been working diligently to raise money to help fight the disease.
Shelby Renkiewicz was first diagnosed in 2018, and since then she’s held several different types of fundraisers with all the funds going to the MS Society of Canada.
Her latest and largest fundraiser is currently underway, a raffle with over 100 different prizes to be won.
Shelby told us more about her raffle.
As for how the idea for a raffle came about, she said she began doing a few other smaller fundraisers, but soon businesses began to offer prizes to raffle off during those fundraisers. She said it got to the point where they just decided to do a larger raffle and focus attention on that.
For this year, Shelby said there are at least 100 prizes she’s taken a pictures of so far, but there are still more to go.
Tickets are $2 dollars each, or 3 for $5, 8 for $10 or 18 for $20.
Shelby said she does all of the organizing of the raffle herself, with help from her mother. That includes storing hundreds of raffle prizes in her self-described tiny condo.
Since her diagnosis, she’s raised over $66,000 to fund MS research.
According to the MS Society of Canada, MS is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system and can affect vision, memory, balance and mobility.
As well, Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world, with an estimated 90,000 Canadians living with the disease.
Shelby said it can be tough when people don’t understand what she goes through.
She added that aside from helping to fund research into the disease, organizing the fundraisers helps her keep her mind off some of the symptoms.
Shelby said she will be accepting prize donations for the raffle until April 15, with the raffle happening live on her Facebook page on April 29.
To get a look at some of the prizes and learn more about Shelby and her fundraising efforts, you can check out her page, Shelby’s Raffle Fundraiser for the MS Walk.
Written by Lee McConnell
