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Life is a Highway, and sometimes Tom Cochrane shows up to tell you that
In Walk the Walk, local community builders are surprised with a visit from their own heroes
| Source: |
Toronto Star |
| Date: |
October 1, 2013 |
| Author: |
Barbara Turnbull |
Angus Ronalds doesn't consider himself special.
After losing his wife, Heidi, and son, Riley, to cancer within eight
months of each other, the Milton, Ont. man channelled his grief by
organizing a walk to raise money for the Hospital for Sick
Children.
"I just wanted to showcase what one person can do when they put their
mind to it," he says, explaining why he agreed to be part of a show
about local heroes.
And though the walk's theme song was Riley's favourite - Life Is a
Highway, by Tom Cochrane - Ronalds was shocked when the rock singer
showed up to sing for a group of friends and pay tribute to the
family.
"It just blew me away that he would take the time to do this for me,"
he says in a telephone interview, choked with emotion.
"More importantly for recognizing the work that we've done and
remembering Riley."
Walk the Walk is a six-part documentary series celebrating the work
done by community heroes, surprising them with a visit from a
celebrity they admire who has already been inducted on Canada's Walk
of Fame.
Each episode profiles the story of a Canadian living an inspirational
life of giving back.
"Some of the things these people have gone through is truly
extraordinary," says Lynn Harvey, president of Enter the Picture
Productions and producer of the series. "It was really nice to honour
these people."
The celebrities were moved and impressed, with some going out of their
way to do more than was asked, Harvey says. "It was nice to see how
invested they became."
The main descriptor is compassion, says figure skating superstar Kurt
Browning, who surprises Nancy Eastwood, an Ajax skating teacher who
coaches people with disabilities.
"It's as core value as it gets," Browning says, "helping those who
need help, using your talents and something that you love to build
confidence in people who could just be pushed aside by busier,
stronger society."
Karl Sloman shows compassion, along with perseverance and ingenuity,
with the band he formed in 2005 called Train Wreck - an eight-member
band divided equally between players with and without disabilities, in
London, Ont.
The four disabled musicians are all percussionists, with instruments
rigged up to their wheelchairs or, in one case, a drumstick with an
electrode running through the middle that makes it easier to drum on
cue.
Sloman, who idolizes Neil Peart, drummer for rock group Rush, thought
he was being given an opportunity to meet and consult with Peart's
technician. He wasn't expecting the notoriously private icon to join
the visit.
"I know people think what I do is a big deal, but I don't see it that
way," Sloman says. "To be treated the way I was by the band and by the
Rush organization, it really turned me on my back."
Other episodes highlight a young beat poet using words to end violence
and inspired change, a youth mentoring an Olympic hopeful who survived
a severe spinal injury and a sister act that teaches developmentally
delayed children to dance.
Walk the Walk premieres Saturday Oct. 12 on Global, at 10 p.m.
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