By Cecilia Nasmith

Cornerstone Family Violence Prevention Centre held a celebration Thursday evening for one of its biggest supporters, who proved her dedication by literally trekking across the Sahara Desert.

Royal LePage ProAlliance Realty sales representative Lindsey Edwards was full of stories about her experiences as part of the big Royal LePage Shelter Foundation Sahara Desert Challenge in November – five days, 100 km., she summed up at the fete in her honour at Venture 13.

A day's trek would typically begin at 9 a.m., stop for breaks and lunch, and finish between 4 and 5 p.m.

“It was amazing,” Edwards said - “super-hot through the day, really cold at night.”

She was one of four groups (30 trekkers each) from across Canada to perform this feat.

“Ninety-nine per cent of them I never met in my life. Now most of they are people I talk to daily. It was a really cool experience getting to know that many people in that short a period of time.”

She admits it was a scary prospect because it was an experience that put her so far out of her element.

“I'm not a camper. I'm not a walker. But when I got there, it kind of felt natural because we had such great support,” Edwards recalled.

“The sights were magnificent. Those sand dunes were a million times more magnificent than you would ever think.”

She arrived with a fear of bugs and blisters, but ended up seeing only one bug and suffering only minor blisters.

The Sahara Desert Challenge was a project of the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, a national foundation entirely funded by Royal LePage, which meant all proceeds go to charity.

This trek is the third such exotic fundraiser they have organized. Anyone who wants to participate goes through a selection process, and is expected to pay his or her own expenses. As soon as Edwards heard the destination announced at their national sales conference, she was intrigued.

“I guess it kind of spoke to me,” she recalled.

She applied to participate, got accepted, and immediately contacted Cornerstone.

Participants were expected to raise a minimum of $5,000, so Edwards decided to be ambitious and aim for $10,000. She ended up raising $37,500. She was only about $1,000 behind the top fundraiser out of 120 participants, and the participant in third place was $10,000 behind her.

And cumulatively, they all raised about $1.13-million.

The structure of the event calls for 80% to go to the participant's charity of choice and 20% to go to programming across Canada that deals with domestic violence. Accordingly, Cornerstone received a $30,000 cheque Thursday.

Along with the wine and cheese, there were specially decorated cookies. Camel and flamingo were two of the designs on the cookies, along with other motifs like pink flamingos dotting a green yard. One of the cookies says, “18 hours, 72.10 km., 95,997 steps.”

The camels are self-explanatory, while the flamingos are a tribute to one of her most reliable fundraisers – flocking.

Edwards's big beach party gave the summer a splash, Cornerstone executive director Nancy Johnston said, but everyone enjoyed the flocking. For a certain donation, you can “flock” someone – surprise that person with a flock of pink flamingos. Along with supporters' friends and family members, flockees included the Cobourg Police Service and Rebound Northumberland.

Edwards feels strongly about supporting her local community. She already makes a practice of donating several thousand dollars a year to Cornerstone by setting aside part of every commission she makes.

“I guess, in the line of work I'm in, I generally work with people who don't have a problem affording a home. This is sort of the flip side, being able to help people I may never meet otherwise and giving back to these people,” she said.

Edwards did meet a Cornerstone client before she left, and was surprised at what she heard.

“She said I am an inspiration, which is crazy – she has gone through so much. The fact is that she can see the inspiration in me going and walking five days, and I see the inspiration in her. I want to provide what I can for women like her.”

Johnston applauded Edwards for all the effort and for her creative fundraising.

“That $30,000 will have a huge impact on our services, but Lindsey did so well helping us raise the profile of Cornerstone with her e-mails, social media and flocking,” she said.

“And we also talked about the courage it took for Lindsey to do this. For me, it speaks to the courage it takes for women and children to leave an abusive relationship.

“I think it symbolizes the community taking a stand against family violence, because it was a community effort. Lindsey led it, but there's also the amazing generosity of our community and what it symbolizes for these women and children.

The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation arranges these fundraisers every two years, Edwards said, and she fully expects to apply for the next one when it's announced at this year's sales conference in Winnipeg.

Based on her track record of accomplishing what she sets out to do, Johnston would not be surprised if they held a similar celebration in a couple of years' time.