ST. LUNAIRE-GRIQUET, N.L. — A charity created more than two years ago has helped families from the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula cover travel costs associated with medical appointments.
“We are following, what we believe, in the footsteps of Dr. Grenfell and that is having people have better access to medical care,” Mark Wilkoff said of First Step Charity, created by himself and his wife Linda, who live in St. Lunaire-Griquet.
“It used to be in this area that people would raise money for individuals travelling for medical care and that was pretty inefficient and generally unfair because people who were popular got a lot of money and the people who weren’t, didn’t, and so forth,” Wilkoff said. “So we saw the need."
There are a lot of people from the area, from Goose Cove to Boat Harbour and everywhere in between, who have to travel for medical reasons every year, he said.
“And a good number of those people simply can’t afford it,” he said.
Their goal was multifold. In addition to helping with travel costs, the charity reduces the amount of individual fundraising and sets a new standard for raising money to help others. "Where we raise money and ask people to give expecting nothing in return other than the joy of helping somebody else," he explained.
They issued the first cheque October 2017 and have since assisted in over 125 trips and dispersed about $52,000.
“We are constantly raising money because the only way we have to help people is from getting donations from people around,” Wilkoff said, adding the International Grenfell Association has been very helpful as one of the main partners.
“We are excited that Foodland has now joined us in that effort to do this special round-up for the rest of December," said charity board member Godfrey Mitchelmore.
Young’s Foodland at the Viking Mall in St. Anthony will be hosting the fundraiser from Dec. 9-31.
“Young’s Foodland will ask customers if they would like to round-up their purchase to the nearest dollar,” Mitchelmore said.
The town has really stepped up to the mark, too. Their idea was to create a challenge for December it would match the contributions to First Step up to $2,000.
“We are excited about people’s willingness to give, but fundamentally the real joy is to give somebody a reimbursement cheque so you know you’ve helped them get the medical care.”
For more information, visit www.firststepcharity.com
