VICTORIA — Five-year-old Rene Foster took a small, deliberate breath, looked up to his mother Katherine for courage, and then made the conscious decision we all make.

Listening to the wisdom of Mom.

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Then, before a hushed Victoria Convention Centre banquet hall packed with 500 guests, their dinners cooling, all leaning in for the word, Rene turned his gaze toward the waiting video camera.

“Twenty thousand dollars,” he beamed, the number tumbling out proud and clear, his exuberant, gap-toothed grin blooming twenty feet high across the three glowing jumbo screens above the crowd.

For one suspended moment, the room fell utterly silent — letting a child’s triumphant announcement land soft and heavy in their chests before the applause finally broke loose.

Triumph. Family. Hope.

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Those three words captured Vancouver Island this weekend, as the David Foster Foundation once again proved what’s possible when a community rallies around kids fighting........

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