{"id":24583,"date":"2026-01-14T17:46:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=24583"},"modified":"2026-01-14T17:46:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:46:53","slug":"strike-out-cancer-goes-national-as-mortgage-industry-aims-to-raise-1m-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=24583","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Strike Out Cancer\u2019 goes national as mortgage industry aims to raise $1M in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p>The mortgage industry is once again lacing up its bowling shoes and taking another spin in a collective effort to \u201cStrike Out Cancer\u201d in late February.<\/p>\n<p>Now in its third year, the annual event has expanded from a standalone gathering in Toronto to a national campaign across 14 cities, with a fundraising goal of seven figures.<\/p>\n<p>Generous donations from industry sponsors are once again covering operational costs so that every dollar raised \u2014 and matched by Health Canada \u2014 can go directly to cancer research via the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation and the Terry Fox Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Strike Out Cancer\u2019s inaugural event in Toronto raised $56,000 for Princess Margaret. Last year, nine concurrent events in different cities coast-to-coast raised more than $775,000 combined, with funds donated to local cancer research efforts in each community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTerry Fox helps us find cancer centres across the country, so that funds raised in Saskatchewan, for example, go to cancer research in Saskatchewan,\u201d explains Don Stoddart, owner and principal broker of Key Mortgage Partners. \u201cThis year we have a goal of a million, and we\u2019ve added another five locations across the country, so we\u2019re up to 14.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Event dates<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>February 24<\/strong> \u2013 Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Hamilton, London, St. John\u2019s<\/li>\n<li><strong>February 25<\/strong> \u2013 Halifax, Quebec City, Toronto\/Vaughan, Vancouver<\/li>\n<li><strong>February 26 <\/strong>\u2013 Edmonton &amp; Montreal<\/li>\n<li><strong>February 27<\/strong> \u2013 Ottawa<\/li>\n<li><strong>March 4<\/strong> \u2013 Kelowna<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Some lighthearted fun mixed with some heavy hearts<\/h2>\n<p>Strike Out Cancer participants are encouraged to arrive in costume to compete for the annual \u201cBest Dressed\u201d award and wear a nametag displaying the name of the person touched by cancer that they\u2019re bowling for.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1536\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer3.jpeg\" alt=\"Strike Out Cancer\" class=\"wp-image-81400\" style=\"width:425px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer3.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer3-75x100.jpeg 75w, https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer3-770x1027.jpeg 770w, https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer3-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer3-500x667.jpeg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt starts off as a competitive bowling tournament that turns very quickly into a passionate understanding of friends and family and what it means to lose people,\u201d Stoddart says. \u201cIt brings back a lot of great memories of those people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stoddart founded Strike Out Cancer in 2023 after losing four people to cancer in quick succession.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe and I were at the bedside of [MPC Hall of Fame Inductee] Ed Karthaus about a month and a half before he passed away, and coincidentally, on that same day, Jessica Fitzpatrick came to visit to Ed as well,\u201d explains Axiom Innovations CEO Dong Lee. \u201cWithin a year, both of them had passed away, and it was Don who said, \u2018we need to do something to just recognize how precious life is and how cancer has taken some really good people from our lives.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Banking on some healthy competition<\/h2>\n<p>Stoddart says the national reach of the event has inspired some friendly competition between Canadian cities, which ultimately drives more donations.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, for example, it appeared that Ottawa had out-raised Montreal, until the final numbers were tallied and the latter narrowly edged out the former.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe now have Montreal and Quebec City, so those two are going to have some fun with each other,\u201d Stoddart adds. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to raise more than the person beside you, your team is trying to raise more than the other team, your centre is trying to raise more than the other centre, but when you get to the event the whole focus and atmosphere changes, because of that name on your chest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly competitive industry across all sectors, whether it\u2019s the lenders or the brokers or the franchises,\u201d explains Wane Davis, who has worked as a marketer in the mortgage industry for over 40 years. \u201cThe thing that really warms my heart is, in such an aggressive industry they can all come together as one industry for one cause.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1718\" height=\"1449\" src=\"https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer2.jpeg\" alt=\"Strike Out Cancer\" class=\"wp-image-81397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer2.jpeg 1718w, https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer2-100x84.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer2-770x649.jpeg 770w, https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer2-1536x1295.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Strike-Out-Cancer2-500x422.jpeg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1718px) 100vw, 1718px\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bigger and better than ever<\/h2>\n<p>Davis, himself a cancer survivor, was brought on to assist with marketing for last year\u2019s event, but says he\u2019s had a lot more time to add more professional touches to the 2026 edition.<\/p>\n<p>This year he says participants should anticipate a more sophisticated social media campaign, signage and digital communication materials \u2014 even an original jingle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to improve sponsorship recognition, which goes a long way in getting more sponsorship dollars, which allows us to do more in more markets,\u201d Davis adds. \u201cDon Stoddart said to me that it\u2019s gone from a mom-and-pop thing to a national campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Each of the 14 regional events will be managed by a local ambassador who has volunteered to sell tickets, organize local sponsors and oversee the event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re humbled that people would step up,\u201d says Lee. \u201cWhen you ask for help, you just hope they\u2019ll say \u2018yes,\u2019 but when they come back all-in, it\u2019s just a sense of \u2018wow,\u2019 and we don\u2019t take it for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The events will all take place between February 24 and 26, except for one in Kelowna, B.C. on March 4. Organizers anticipate another sellout year, with a total of 1,800 bowlers and another 200+ non-bowling spectators. Participants only need to raise a couple hundred dollars each on average to surpass the seven-figure fundraising goal, with the help of matching funds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery year we do this, we get better at it,\u201d Lee adds. \u201cWe\u2019re just overwhelmed with the success of it, and I think when you do it with the right mindset, good things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the future, organizers hope to see participants raising funds in just about every Canadian community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs long as there\u2019s a bowling alley anywhere close to them, then it would be nice to let them be involved,\u201d Stoddart says. \u201cI hope it continues on for years past me and just continues to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-1-1 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<iframe title=\"STRIKE OUT CANCER - WHAT A DAY, WHAT AN INDUSTRY\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1145764283?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Visited 1 times, 1 visit(s) today<\/p>\n<p class=\"tmnf_posttag\">Don Stoddart Dong Lee Ed Karthaus fundraiser mortgage industry mortgage industry news Princess Margaret Foundation strike out cancer Wane Davis<\/p>\n<p class=\"modified small cntr\" itemprop=\"dateModified\">Last modified: January 14, 2026<\/p>\n<div class=\"author-info\">\n<div class=\"author-image\">\n                                        <img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/avatar_user_184_1676493770-96x96.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/avatar_user_184_1676493770-192x192.jpg 2x\" class=\"avatar avatar-96 photo\" height=\"96\" width=\"96\" decoding=\"async\">                                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"author-bio\">\n                                        Jared Lindzon<\/p>\n<p class=\"author-description\">Jared Lindzon is a freelance journalist and public speaker based in Toronto. He is a regular contributor to the Globe &amp; Mail, Fast Company and TIME Magazine, and has been published in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Fortune Magazine, and many more.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canadianmortgagetrends.com\/2026\/01\/strike-out-cancer-goes-national-as-mortgage-industry-aims-to-raise-1m-in-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mortgage industry is once again lacing up its bowling shoes and taking another spin in a collective effort to \u201cStrike Out Cancer\u201d in late February. Now in its third year, the annual event has expanded from a standalone gathering in Toronto to a national campaign across 14 cities, with a fundraising goal of seven<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[6230,6663,2121,417,1345,1979,5319],"class_list":{"0":"post-24583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mortgage","8":"tag-aims","9":"tag-cancer","10":"tag-industry","11":"tag-mortgage","12":"tag-national","13":"tag-raise","14":"tag-strike"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}