Bethell Hospice Foundation the latest to benefit from 100 Women Who Care

January 31, 2018 · 0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer
Bethell Hospice Foundation in Caledon benefitted from the efforts of 100 Women Who Care Caledon.
The women gathered for their fourth and final meeting of the year in November at Caledon Ski Club. The organization, with around 115 members, completed their first year, and successfully raised about $29,000 in just four meetings lasting a total of four hours.
Michele Newton, one of the co-founders, said the number of members and money raised surpassed her expectations.
“It’s been very successful,” she said.
Participants were able to nominate an organization ahead of time, with three randomly drawn. Each participant pledged $100 to contribute. The nominators were given five minutes to make their pitch to those in attendance.
Debbie Davis spoke on behalf of Bethell Hospice, which has a 10-bed residential facility in Inglewood, and provides care for people facing a life limiting illness, as well as supports for their families.
She said they are required to raise 40 per cent of their funding, roughly $1-million annually, themselves. “So we don’t have a lot of money left over at the end of the year for extra services that we would like to provide for our clients and their families,” she observed.
Davis said they would like to provide those extra services, which are focus programs for families, and art therapy, which she commented helps “stimulate the imagination to express grief in alternative ways.”
She said both programs would be available to anyone, and participants will engage in therapeutic-activity-based arts and craft projects.
“The objective is to increase their wellness and sense of well being after experiencing a loss,” she said, adding a trained art therapist would run the program.
The recent meeting raised a total of $8,200 in an hour.
The other nominees were Habitat for Humanity (HFH) and the Youthdale Riding Program.
Heather Kendall spoke for HFH, discussing how over the summer, Caledon received the first ever HFH building, which has 10 townhouses.
She said donations help maintain the building. “Families will find stability, safety, and a sense of community,” she observed.
Soaring real estate prices and serious affordable housing shortages in the GTA, mean 43 per cent of renter households spend 30 per cent of their income on rent, Kendall said. “This prevents them from building equity to buy a home in the future.”
Helen Meek-Hickey spoke on behalf of Youthdale, saying they provide therapeutic horseback riding for at risk youth from ages 12 to 21, as horses “just give back” and don’t judge the young people.
Meek-Hickey said they need donations to deal with the fees for horses, as they have eight currently, each costing approximately $10,000 a year.
She explained many of the youth come from dysfunctional homes, deal with violence, abuse and self-harm. “Their coping strategies have been to act out, run away, and shutdown,” she said. “They don’t see themselves as fitting in.”
She said they help roughly 65 to 75 youth yearly, and they find an emotional connection and partnership with the horses, to build on their confidence and success through dealing and caring for them.

Representatives of 100 Women Who Care Caledon were at Bethell Hospice in Inglewood recently to present this cheque for $8,200, raised by the 100 Women at their last gathering in November. Kaitlan Klein, Karen McDonald and Michele Newton presented the cheque to Hospice Executive Director Nazira Jaffer, Foundation Board Chair Debbie Davis and Director of Development Jeannette Vanden Heuvel.
Photo by Bill Rea