With the federal and B.C. governments tightening their belts, pressure has increased on the rest of us to try to help those needing health services. Below are six events taking place on weekends over the next couple of months, all designed to benefit worthy causes.

Kayak for a Cure (August 25)
Launched in Vancouver in 2006, the Kayak for a Cure cancer fundraiser has expanded to nine cities and has raised $250,000. The Vancouver event, which supports InspireHealth: Integrative Cancer Care, begins at Ecomarine at the Jericho Sailing Centre (1300 Discovery Street) at 9 a.m. Kayaks are provided by the charity and guides will be at Jericho Beach to offer assistance. InspireHealth provides people with cancer the information they need to recover, including the latest scientific evidence about the role of diet, stress reduction, exercise, and a network of support in reducing the risk of recurrence. Anyone interested in volunteering at the Kayak for a Cure event can email Jocelyne Galizia at jgalizia@inspirehealth.ca.

Run for Recovery (August 25)
The third annual Run for Recovery to benefit the Surrey-based Welcome Home Addiction Recovery Academy consists of a five-kilometre walk or a 10-kilometre run, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Price Pro grocery store at 6911 King George Boulevard. Students enrolled in the academy and living free of drugs and alcohol are organizing the family-friendly event, which winds up with a barbecue, games, and a concert in the store parking lot. The students work at Price Pro, where they develop job skills that will help them after they graduate from the program. Welcome Home was created by B.C.–based former furniture-store magnate John Volken, who sold his company in 2004 and put $100 million into a foundation bearing his name. “We teach all aspects of successful living: vocational training, but also hygiene and leadership,” Volken told the Georgia Straight in 2011. “We put a lot of emphasis on leadership.”

Recovery Day (September 8)
Last summer, filmmaker Greg Williams posted a short video on Kickstarter to publicize his documentary project, The Anonymous People, about the addiction-recovery movement. After seeing the link, Orchard Recovery Centre’s Lorinda Strang and AnnMarie McCullough invited Williams to speak at last year’s REEL Recovery Film Festival. They also worked with broadcaster and author David Berner to persuade Mayor Gregor Robertson to proclaim the first Recovery Day last September. Vancouver will mark the second Recovery Day next month with a rally on the lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery at noon, alongside exhibitors’ tents and tables. Similar events will take place in nine other cities.

Terry Fox Run (September 15)
Terry Fox never achieved his dream of running across Canada with an artificial leg in 1980, but boy, did he create a legacy. The run in his name, which began in 1981, has grown into the world’s largest one-day fundraising event for cancer. More than $500 million has been generated through the annual run, including $27.5 million in the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2012. It’s become a global event, with runs having taken place in Arab countries, China, Vietnam, Cuba, India, and across Europe. Not bad for a kid from Port Coquitlam who didn’t live to see his 23rd birthday.

brilliant! (September 21)
The St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation and the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research will hold a fashion show at the Commodore Ballroom starting at 7 p.m. that’s being billed as “a show of love for mental health and people living with HIV/AIDS”. St. Paul’s is trying to remove the stigma of mental illness, including addiction, with its “Change the Labels” campaign. The hospital’s services include a mental-health wellness outpatient clinic, an eating-disorders program, outreach to inner-city youth, family therapy, and 60 beds in four inpatient wards. St. Paul’s is also home to the globally acclaimed B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, which has saved scores of lives with its groundbreaking research. The centre’s director, Dr. Julio Montaner, recently received the Canadian Medical Association’s highest honour, the 2013 Frederic Newton Gisborne Starr Award, for his contribution to the decline of more than 95 percent in B.C.’s AIDS–mortality rate over two decades.

CIBC Run for the Cure (October 6)
The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and CIBC team up for one of the most popular annual charitable runs in Vancouver. Opening ceremonies begin at 9 a.m. at Concord Pacific Place, with a survivor parade at 11 a.m. Last year, more than $30 million was raised across Canada with the help of more than 170,000 participants. Since 1986, the foundation has turned over more than $274 million for breast-cancer research, health promotion, advocacy, and education, according to its website.