Walk for Kids to honour Kirstin Sutherland

Kirstin Sutherland died in a car accident last September. She was 27 at the time of the accident.

By Austin Grabish, The Selkirk Record

It’s being called Kirstin’s Walk for Kids, but the five-kilometre walk will be for all ages, and organizers hope everyone will make it out to honour a late St. Clements woman who was taken from the world too soon.

Kirstin Sutherland was 27 when she was killed in a Selkirk car crash last September, and now her friends and family are hoping to keep her spirit alive by putting on the first annual Kirstin’s Walk for Kids.

The event takes place June 14 at Selkirk Park and will raise money for a legacy fund that has been started in her name through the Selkirk and District Community Foundation.

Sutherland had a love for children and was working for River Crest Daycare when she was killed.

Her friends and family remember her as outgoing and loving, and her obituary said she was “like a shooting star,” because her eyes and spirit could light up a room.

“She always liked to have fun, so naturally she gravitated towards children. She would play, be silly, take care of them and most of all, laugh with them,” said Jamie Kreviazuk, a friend, in an email.

Kreviazuk said the walk next month will be a great way to remember Sutherland who “has been and remains the glue that keeps us together.”

“This walk is important to us because we miss her,” Kreviazuk said.

Rick Sutherland, Kirstin’s dad, said the idea to have a walk came after discussions with friends and family.

“We were all sitting around one day and wondering what we could do to honour her,” he said emotionally during a phone interview with the Record.

“We kind of just put our heads together,” he said.

Next month’s walk will take participants on a five kilometre stroll around the perimeter of Selkirk Park.

Rick Sutherland said musical entertainment and children’s activities will also be part of the day.

Sutherland said the hope is to have 300 people come out to the walk.

All of the money raised will go to the Kirstin Sutherland Legacy Fund, and once it hits $10,000 money will be dispersed to various children’s groups and daycares.

Registration costs $20 and can be done in advance online at www.runningroom.com under the ‘events’ section of the website.

Anyone needing more information can call Kreviazuk at 204-785-0468.

 -- First published in the Selkirk Record print edition May 14 2015 p.9