Monster & Sea 24 Vancouver 2020

**Update - We have decided to delay this year's Monster and Sea 24 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This event will be rescheduled at a later date. Please see our update section and follow our social media for more information.** Year 6!!!  Once again Vancouver will be represented in the Monster and Sea 24 – a 24-hour relay paddle raising money for local families dealing with cancer.  This is the fifth year Vancouver is involved in this event and again we have four separate teams, plus many volunteers, set up across the Lower Mainland in support of this day.  We are bringing together our community to help people in our community. Cancer is a taker.  It wants everything from us - our health, our confidence, our families.  And it is relentless. Statistics say 1 in 3 people arm wrestle with cancer, but what about the other 2 people?  Our job is to stand in the gap.  Fill the void with love, compassion, and our ability to GO when our friends can't. This is what the 24 is all about. The 24 started in the spring of 2015, when 6 people in Seattle, led by Troy Nebeker from Monster and Sea ( www.monsterandsea.com ), did a relay paddle for 24 hours to raise some funds for families who were dealing with cancer.  That team raised over $7,000.  In 2016, the 24 grew to 7 teams, for the first time including a Vancouver team, and these groups collectively raised over $50,000.  In 2017 it blew up to over 22 teams, again including a Vancouver team, this time collectively raising over $140,000!  In 2018 there were a total of 26 teams, this time including three Vancouver teams, and collectively we raised $153,000!  In 2019 there were a total of 40+ teams, this time including four Vancouver teams, and collectively we raised over $253,000!! Thanks to our community's generous support, the Vancouver teams have raised over $78,000 these last four years, helping families as far west as Vancouver Island, as far east as Cape Breton NS, as far north as the Yukon Territories, as far south as Des Moise Iowa, and as far overseas as Northern Ireland, with many families being helped right here in the Lower Mainland.  This year, with your help, we would like to reach the milestone of 100 families helped, raising over $100,000, over the last five years! This spring, on April 18th and 19th, there again will be teams paddling in cities across the US and Canada.  Where does the money go?  We give out all of our donations in $1000 increments to a person or family in need and how it's used is for the them to decide.  This isn’t about research, this isn’t about finding a cure, this doesn’t go to a charity.  This is cash, in an envelope, put in the hands of folks who need it.  It could help pay the utility bills, or buy some groceries, or maybe take the family away for a weekend to get a break from the chaos. Thank you everyone for your generous support; know that your donations are going to homes in need and that they make a real difference in people’s lives.   We are on the water out of four locations around the Lower Mainland this year - Vanier Park, Deep Cove, Elgin Park, and for the first time at Just Add Yoga at the Westin Bayshore Hotel.  We would love to have our amazing paddling community join us on the water!  If you don’t paddle or do water yoga but would still like to show your support, just come down to one of these locations and say hi, and help us keep the stoke going for 24 hours all in an effort to raise some much needed funds. Please join us!  Where: Vanier Park (2 teams) - Shauna, Brad, Davide, James, Laurisse, Mike, Nima, Robin, Sarah, and Shannon/Ocean/Sky David Lam Park - Harry, Daniel, Emily, Chris, Rebecca, and Veronica Deep Cove (paddling adult/junior) - Mike, Adam, Mike G. Holly, Karly, Joe, Alison, Ehren, Krista, Adilh, Kelvin, Isabelle  Elgin Park - Scott, Tobey, Mike, Ryan, Jon and Susie Just Add Water Yoga, Westin Bayshore - Kristy, Danielle, Caroline, Lindsey, and Kelsi Start: Saturday, April 18th 8:00 AM Finish: Sunday, April 19th 8:00 AM A sincere thank you from the Monster & Sea 24 Vancouver 2020 teams!