Young Philanthropists

When you think about people giving back and people helping out, would your first thoughts turn to our communities’ youth? Giving back is something that, if children are introduced to at a young age, they will be more likely continue to do throughout their lifetime.

Two gifts were made to the Health Sciences Foundation recently from a young boy and girl well on their way to being lifetime philanthropists.

Reed Cowie, age 9, from Manitouwadge was inspired to raise funds for Tbaytel Tamarack House during his father’s stay. Tbaytel Tamarack House is a home-away-from-home for regional cancer patients who are being treated at the Cancer Centre in Thunder Bay. It was here that a worker named Angel (fitting don’t you think?) taught Reed the craft of making cat toys. When he returned home, he continued to make more cat toys – 144 in total – and decided to sell them to raise money for the Tbaytel Tamarack House. “I enjoyed the atmosphere there, and knowing that everyone was there for the same reason made it comforting in a way,” says Reed. Excited to have made a difference, Reed donated a total of $72.00 towards Tbaytel Tamarack House and says he plans continue to continue his philanthropy.

Jacey Witiluk, age 10, of Thunder Bay decided that, at her birthday party, she would make Christmas ornaments with her friends and later sell them to family and close neighbours. Her friends had the choice of keeping the ornaments they created or giving them to her to sell. Most decided to leave their ornaments with Jacey to help her raise money. She sold the popsicle stick and yarn ornaments for $1.00 each. “Although,” says Jacey, “most of my customers were generous and donated a little extra.” Overall, Jacey donated a total of $92.55, a combination of her birthday money and ornament sales. You may wonder what inspired her. Turns out, she is no stranger to helping out the community. She has donated her birthday money to charities before and raised money to build a garden at her school. Learning and growing from her parents, Jacey is on the right track and makes quite the young philanthropist!

Every donation, no matter how small, improves your healthcare at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Together, Reed and Jacey’s gifts total enough to buy bedside visitor chairs in patient rooms, or games and puzzles for patients in paediatrics or occupational therapy, or a number of tuck-away belts used to comfortably secure catheters for dialysis patients.

Your generous donation to the Health Sciences Foundation today can help fund more projects like this. Find out more at www.healthsciencesfoundation.ca or call us directly at (807) 345-4673. Then make your donation and, like Reed and Jacey, help us make a positive impact on a patient’s life.