Valarie Simpson

Valarie Sampson, broker/owner of Re/Max Park Place in Sydney, N.S., recently overcame physical, creative and mental challenges to make dreams come true for three Cape Breton kids through the Children’s Wish Foundation fundraiser, Exile Island.  

Sampson participated in the one-day event, modeled after the popular reality television program Survivor: Exile Island.  Along with more than 100 others, Sampson was “captured” and sent off to various destinations where she was “put to the test.”  The challenge: to outsmart, outlast and outpledge in order to raise funds to help grant wishes to children diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.  The staunch supporter led the Cape Breton contenders by raising $5,600 individually and pushing her tribe to surpass their goal of $10,000.

“This event was incredibly challenging,” says Sampson.  “Yet, it’s nothing compared to the challenges faced by these children every day.  Their courage is the real inspiration in all this.  We simply want to remind them what it’s like to just be a kid.”