News from Visitation Province
Friends Commendation Award
MacGillivray Guest Home (MGGH) is very fortunate to have a strong group of volunteers that work tirelessly through their fundraising initiatives to enhance the quality of life for each resident. The Friends of MacGillivray is a major financial support at MGGH. They spend countless hours raising funds to ensure no resident goes without.
As we all know . . . it takes a great captain to run a ship.
Sr. Hazel Power has been a staple at MGGH since she became Chair of The Friends of MacGillivray Guest Home in 1999. Twenty-four years later she is still volunteering her time to raise funds through planning and organizing fundraising initiatives and running a gift shop the “Shalom Shop” which opened its doors in 2007.
Sr. Hazel quietly and humbly ensures residents are given many comfort items throughout the year and is instrumental in organizing an annual Lobster Supper; Mother’s Day Tea; Strawberry Festival; Blueberry Festival; purchasing concert tickets; Christmas gifts, just to name a few.
Sister Hazel is truly one of a kind. Nothing shocks us more than when she calls at 10:00 in the morning to say, Conair will be delivering a few items sometime today, and an 18-wheeler pulls-up in the back parking lot with 6 pallets of hairdryers! She is truly amazing!
We are so proud to have Sr. Hazel as the backbone of our home and honoured to recognize her longstanding commitment. We are pleased to announce that Sr. Hazel was recently presented with the Friends of MacGillivray Commendation Award.
Catherine Walker, CND
JPIC Core Committee Meeting
JPIC Committee members met on Zoom on Monday, April 24.
We will be placing emphasis on the topic of our carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) generated by our actions. Making even small changes in our everyday choices can make a difference.
We extend special mention and our thanks to Jessica Ramos, Social Justice Coordinator, for the Earth Day Zoom last Saturday morning. It was truly a joyful celebration of Mother Earth. The very best part was the sharing among participants of so many countries, so many places, of our common concerns, and our search for continuing progress in all that needs attention and action.
Eleanor McCloskey, CND, for JPIC Visitation
Every Woman’s Centre
On April 12, 2023, the residents at Parkland Cape Breton had the pleasure of listening to Wanda, from Every Woman’s Centre, speak about the projects being offered by their organization. They have a Shelter for Women over 19 with an outreach worker to help with their transition when they leave the Centre; a Project House for people with barriers to employment who can come and be involved with crafts, etc.; My Sister’s Closet where people can come and get gently used clothing; a Seniors Group which has been operating for many years (trips around the Cabot Trail and Theatre performances and concerts are part of the activities they attend) and 5 Second Stage Housing Apartments.
Two of their major programs are: Back to School Program which sees hundreds of bags filled with donated items (including clothing) for children beginning school in September.
Adopt a Family Program (for Christmas). This is so successful that they stop their visitation program in November due to lack of space and time by the staff (however, help is always available).
They provide a very important service to the people in the Sydney area: SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) Program. This is offered 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week. It serves all genders (including trans identified people), ages 13 and over, who have experienced sexual assault in the past 7 days (168 hours).
Although they are called Every Woman’s Centre, they also work with single fathers and families. They have many other daily involvements with clients both planned and unplanned. The residents of Parkland were very grateful to hear about the wonderful work being done by this organization within our community.
Connie MacIsaac, CND