Josh Collins is back and ready to take a couple of kicks at cancer.
More specifically, 4,000 kicks at the deadly disease.
On Saturday (June 22), at the Jack Poole Plaza in Vancouver, the 32-year-old Langley man began his Kicking Cancer campaign where he made 250 good kicks in just under two hours.
The initiative will see Collins — a former football kicker and soccer player — attempt to kick 4,000 field goals at eight events between now and the fall.
It works out to about 500 field goals per event.
His next event is this Saturday in Edmonton, to coincide with the CFL game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Collins will be kicking his field goals outside of Commonwealth Stadium — with his inflatable field posts — and then kick the final five of his 500 indoors during halftime of the game.
Last year, Collins aimed to kick 100,000 yards in field goals — 2,858 field goals of 35 yards apiece — during a 48-hour span at an event in Richmond. He managed to kick 1,955 field goals, a total of 68,425 yards, and raised around $10,000.
The goal is to now raise $1 million for the Ron Collins Foundation, which is named after his father, who passed away four years ago after an eight-month battle with lung cancer. His father never smoked a day in his life.
The foundation aims to help the families and friends of those suffering from the disease.
"The whole purpose is to be a voice for a cause that really isn't being spoken about," Collins explained about the lack of support for families, especially financial.
Many times, these families become overwhelmed with the situation.
Some of the statistics he provided said that the average family battling cancer ends up $50,000 in debt and one in 10 will lose their home.
"We are just trying to help alleviate that as much as we can," he said.
"Our whole purpose is to make sure these families get the help they need."
Collins, a married father of three with his fourth child expected in mid-September, says it is a struggle juggling training with family life and his full-time job as a sales estimator with King's Services of Cloverdale.
Click here for more information or here to donate.
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The other events Collins will be kicking at include:
Sept. 20 in Winnipeg, Oct. 14 in Hamilton and Oct. 25 in Vancouver.
Dates have not yet been set for his events in Ottawa and Toronto, as well as two which will happen during the PNE in Vancouver.
His stops in Winnipeg, Hamilton and Vancouver will coincide with CFL games in those cities.