Since June 6, 2001, Wellspring Niagara has been a vital community resource for people living with cancer in Niagara. Celebrating 20 years of service, Wellspring Niagara has fulfilled an enormous need in our community.
As Niagara’s only cancer support centre, Wellspring Niagara has been offering free supportive care programming to men, women and children living with cancer. For patients, caregivers and family members, Wellspring’s programs and services have helped people overcome the many challenges brought on by a cancer diagnosis.
As we celebrate this impactful 20 year milestone, beginning today and throughout the year, we will share stories and reflect on our successes, achievements, and highlight our community impact. We hope you will learn more about Wellspring Niagara and how we are building hope for those living with cancer today and for future generations.
Today, we start off our celebration by saluting one of our most long-standing and impactful relationships with a local business – Meridian Credit Union.
The relationship between Meridian and Wellspring Niagara started before our original centre was even opened and when Meridian was formerly known as “Niagara Credit Union”. Believing in the mission and mandate of Wellspring Niagara, Meridian’s staff reached out in support and became part of organizational history.
Throughout the years, Meridian has joined forces with Wellspring Niagara in many capacities. We are proud to have had representatives from Meridian’s staff volunteer on our Board of Directors, various Committees and providing direct support to cancer patients and caregivers.
The first ever third-party event for Wellspring Niagara was a member appreciation BBQ held at Meridian’s Virgil Branch in 2000. This event helped us raise important start-up funds to launch our cancer support programming. From that moment on, Meridian Credit Union has been a part of many Wellspring Niagara fundraisers and happenings. These include our annual “A Starry Night Charity Gala”, staff and member participation during our “Toupee For-A-Day” and “Wellspring Winter Walk”, along with many other third party in branch events for both Meridian staff and its members.
One of the key moments of Meridian Credit Union’s amazing contributions to Wellspring Niagara was the donation of rent-free space in Stevensville between 2008 and 2018. This provided us with the opportunity to expand our reach and offer satellite programming to residents living in Fort Erie and its surrounding areas.
Their amazing support continued during our “Help Us Build Hope” campaign, an important campaign that helped raise funds to build a purpose-built facility to better serve residents from all across Niagara. Meridian once again stepped up to show their support by becoming a lead donor naming the reception area of our new home in Fonthill. The support continued through their own staff run Meridian Baseball Tournament held in 2019 and their employee matching program.
We are very proud of our long-standing history with Meridian Credit Union and thank them for their amazing support throughout the years. We look forward to our continued relationship and working together to make a difference in the lives of people living with cancer in Niagara.
Meridian’s Commitment to Growing Lives
Meridian exists to help lives grow and one of the best ways we help lives grow is through our Commitment to Communities and the best way to enable this is through the power of local decision making. Our employees and branches are empowered to make decisions, both in terms of helping our Members and choosing the sponsorships to partner with organizations in our communities that makes Niagara a better place. We have a strong legacy of working with organizations and individuals who are making a meaningful difference and we have a long standing partnership with Wellspring Niagara who share our common values and aspirations to build prosperity and resiliency to support people and in turn strengthens our community. You don’t have to look very far to experience someone impacted by cancer. The support and programs Wellspring Niagara delivers supports our Employees, our Members and all the Communities Meridian serves across Niagara.
Our employee culture is one that encourages and supports donating time to what is important to employees and this, in turn, develops skills and confidence and contributes to employee well being. Meridian has many enthusiasts of Wellspring Niagara who donate their time and/or their donation dollars to fund the important programs that help those in our community through difficult times. “One of our fondest memories of our partnership was in 2019 when our Fonthill branch organized a one day “Baseball for Wellspring” fundraiser which was a huge success”, says Brian Berton, Branch Manager of the Fonthill branch. This tournament brought employees and their families across Niagara together and while building internal relationships through play, we also were able to fundraise over $11,000 and with Meridian’s employee donating power, this grew to $23,000. The pandemic in 2020 did not enable us to repeat the event but as we continue to navigate through COVID 19, we are proud to put power into the March across Niagara in celebration of 20 years.
Meridian looks with pride on the successful project Wellspring Niagara completed, moving from a small 2,000 square foot plaza into “The Home Niagara Built” and Deborah Vanhell, Small Business Advisor in Niagara shares, “what a joy it was to be part of the Board of Directors and be part of the Wellspring team. We spent countless hours hovering over plans, double checking needs and ensuring all nuances for serving Members were considered. While my time on the board finished, I remain connected and I am proud to work for Meridian where I’m empowered to make a difference and encouraged to volunteer. I am able to turn my volunteer hours into donation dollars and give to charities of choice. This volunteer time and dollar for dollar employee matching program has resulted in Meridian matching over $2,500 of my employee fundraising efforts to donate to Wellspring Niagara”.
2021 is a very important Wellspring Niagara anniversary of our support and partnership and, there will be many Meridian staff and family participating in this new and pandemic friendly event and we will proudly boast our support of delivering #MeridianStrong
Some Magical Moments of Meridian Credit Unionshowing their Wellspring Niagara support!
These and MORE pictures will be shared on our Facebook Page!
This virtual fundraiser encourages Niagara residents to go outside during Spring 2021 and enjoy the beauty of our community, set and accomplish a goal, and help spread awareness for Wellspring Niagara’s cancer support programming, while raising money as well.
We are thrilled that Meridian has led the charge to make our first March On Niagara a success. This event is open to everyone. Registration and Donations for the March On Niagara event can be completed here and can be done at anytime from now until June 20th.
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