Tri-Cities residents are once again invited to lace up their hiking shoes and take the Coquitlam Crunch Challenge, a fundraiser aimed at creating a more welcoming society.

With a suggested donation of $20 for adults and $10 for youth, participants can join the five-kilometre challenge starting from the parking lot of the Eagle Ridge lacrosse box on Guildford Way.

Those with a little more gusto can join organizer Alex Bell on the Make it or Break it Challenge, which dares hikers to climb the crunch 10 times in 12 hours, starting at 6: 30 a.m.

"So far, I hold the record so this year, I'm hoping somebody can take that record away from me," Bell said.

The goal is to raise $10,000, which will be seed money for a community grant fund available to anyone wanting to run an event or program that promotes awareness and inclusion of diversity groups.

That could include refugees or immigrants, and people of different faiths, sexual orientations, mental or physical abilities, income statuses, ages or ethnicities.

Inspiring Bell is his experience living abroad in Kenya, Jamaica and Colombia.

"I know what it's like to be a minority in different areas. I know the importance of inclusion to make a community much more livable," he said "Multiculturalism goes well beyond simply recognizing or tolerating other cultures. I think multiculturalism is [about] actually including people."

For more information on the event, which runs Saturday, Sept. 8, visit www. coquitlamcrunch.com.

The Eagle Ridge lacrosse box, where the Coquitlam Crunch Challenge starts, is located beside Scott Creek Middle School at 1240 Lansdowne Dr.

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