MOOSOMIN — Unleash your inner hero.
That’s what Matt Devine is trying to inspire with another dash across the map via mountain bike. Devine is a co-founder with Heroes Unleashed, a cross-country challenge in support of Little Warriors that began on May 11 in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Making his way west, stopping at select communities, Devine is inspiring Canadians along the way. He passed through Moosomin recently
“We wanted to still tell a compelling story to show people at any age, with any background, you can go out and do amazing things,” Devine said. “Very average people can do these extraordinary things.”
He’s living proof. Devine was on the fast road to a life-threatening health crisis, and while he made huge physical progress in his fitness journey, he continued to face mental health issues in his mid-40s.
In 2022, Devine decided to run from Jasper to Canmore (equal to running seven marathons in a week), raising almost $60,000 for a local children’s charity. He seemed to catch the bug for adventure, embarking on a 12,500-kilometres cross-Canada cycle crammed into 100 days last summer, raising more than $100,000 for You Can Ride 2, helping children with disabilities enjoy riding a bike.
Back on the road, Devine has learned from those previous journeys, taking more time to connect with the people along the way.
“The only thing we wanted to really change up this time was time spent engaging with the community because we moved so fast last year,” Devine said. “We shook some hands, we met neat people like yourself, but we never really got a chance to stop and look people in the eye and say, ‘how are you doing? We’ve got an interesting story to tell you about ourselves, and about the kids we’re going to help as Little Warriors’. And this year, we wanted to do more of that.”
This year, husband and wife team Matt and Nicole Devine received a major sponsorship from The Brick, marking 13 stops in 13 centres across the country and participating in special events in those places. Word has it Devine will be cycling 100 kilometres on a stationary bike and doing at least 300 push-ups.
That’s in addition to already putting in on easily 100 kilometre road miles each day!
“We’ve had a lot of really neat experiences, standing up in front of people big and small, especially in the Brick stores,” explained Devine.
“It’s pretty neat because they sponsored us, their staff will gather around me, I’ll tell them a very raw story about my my journey, and Nicole will talk about Little Warriors. I really think we’re impressing on these people their potential.”
One bonus is receiving feedback from people the Devine’s have met on the road, sharing their experience, strength, and hope.
“I had a 66-year-old woman who had a brain injury and was told she couldn’t run ever again because she lost her balance capabilities,” Devine shared. “She could no longer be a nurse. We just got a note from her the other day saying, ‘hey, after we met, I upped my game and I’m now running six kilometres every second day’. And then with that, Nicole does an amazing job of talking about the the ugly truth of children sexual abuse.”
While there’s no firm goal in this year’s fundraising effort, Devine wouldn’t mind reaching that $100,000 mark.
“I always fear that I’m not making a difference; I’m not getting the message out there,” he confided. “Nobody’s interested in this strange couple who drive across Canada doing these crazy things!
So far, the journey has been going alright, but eastern Canada was a little underwhelming in terms of creating buzz.
“It’s hard to engage compared to Saskatchewan, which I tell people was the best province for me, mentally and physically,” Devine said. “I just enjoyed it so much, and the people there were amazing. So I’m really hoping as we get further west, we’ll start to see more engagement from people like you and the communities.”
Aside from the 13 big centres, Heroes Unleashed has also rolled into towns for spontaneous pop-up events—another opportunity to spread their message along the way.
“Just to hear the story of our Heroes Unleashed team, as I said, Nicole, does a great job of explaining the science and the details of the charity to have the best clinicians in the world for our trauma-informed doctors that work with kids from all over Canada,” Devine said. “Their goal is to bring them in if they can’t afford it and provide them this treatment, which is I wouldn’t say is life-altering in this case, I would say life-saving because they can help them avoid drugs, prostitution, mental health, suicide, all the things that are plaguing our society right now.”
Trying to organize a major fundraising journey without a huge marketing team can be tricky, so Heroes Unleashed relies on their online presence to bolster support.
“We need more eyes on things like Instagram and our socials, because they all point towards the cause of Little Warriors,” Devine said. “And to go there, they’re not only going to get the story of the individuals within the van and on the bike—which we hope will help people find their purpose in their path forward—that will also point them towards the purpose, which is Little Warriors.”
For more information on Heroes Unleashed and to connect with Matt and Nicole on their social media channels, you can visit heroesunleased.ca
Above all, the most important message is to get up and moving.
“If you want to ruck, ruck. if you want to jog, jog. If you want to lift weights, lift weights,” Devine said. “We’re just trying to show people movement as medicine, and any type of movement is good. it’s also the most under prescribed antidepressant!”
