Newsroom

What’s Happening at BFO-MR

We don’t know about you, but we’re SO excited to see the sun shining and to finally have some warmth after what felt like an endless winter.

Spring is a time of renewal and new beginnings, a time to reflect and to plan for the days ahead. It has been amazing to spend some time thinking back over the last few months and to share with you all the exciting things that have been going on, and will be going on, with Bereaved Families of Ontario – Midwestern Region.

Staffing Update
We’re not sure where the year went! It’s hard to believe that Jenna will be returning to work after her maternity leave on May 7! We are thrilled to have her back, and we’re also sad to be saying goodbye (for now!) to Carly as she finishes her contract with us. Carly has been an invaluable asset to BFO-MR throughout her time here. Her dedication to the organization and her steadfast belief in the work we do is truly an inspiration. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with her, and will miss her sense of humour, amazing work ethic and the care and compassion she showed our members. May 4 will be Carly’s last day and we welcome back Jenna on May 7. Thank you in advance for your patience as we bring Jenna up to speed and transition her back into her role.

Curling Bonspiel 2018 
On Saturday February 3, we welcomed over 96 curlers to the KW Granite Club for our 19th annual charity curling bonspiel. As always, it was a fun day full of laughter spent with wonderful friends of BFO-MR. We are so grateful for the support of our curlers, sponsors and donors who raised almost $12,000 for our programs! Thank you to our incredible organizing committee of Wayne, Bev, Jane, Deb and Val for all their hard work in making this event possible. You can check out pictures from the event here. Mark your calendars for 2019: We will be back at the KW Granite Club on Saturday February 2, 2019 where we will be celebrating 20 YEARS of this fundraiser.

Spring Groups & Facilitator Training
Our programs for parents grieving the death of an infant and parents grieving the death of a child were both at capacity this spring. We were fortunate to be able to bring in a third facilitator to support our infant loss program, and still we have a wait list. This speaks to the need in our community for this type of support, and we are grateful to be able to walk with these families on their journey. Healing Little Hearts is also currently underway, and Living with Loss continues to welcome new members every month in all four cities where it runs. Did you know that in 2017, 64 Living with Loss groups were held in Kitchener, Cambridge, Guelph and Mount Forest, supporting an average of 80 people per month?

Third Annual Used Book Sale
We are pleased to announce that the 2018 used book sale was our most successful yet, raising almost $1,300 for our programs. We were humbled by the support of the many community members who brought in their gently-used and much-loved books for our sale and we were moved by the stories that often came with them. A special thank you to our volunteers Dana, Holly, David and Heather for helping make the sale a huge success.

PAC receives a Volunteer Impact Award
We were honoured to nominate a number of our amazing volunteers for Volunteer Action Centre “Volunteer Impact Awards” and so excited that our Professional Advisory Committee was a recipient in the Group Involvement: Committee category. The Volunteer Impact Awards took place on April 19 and it was truly an inspirational evening to celebrate the value of volunteerism. PAC members Susan Cadell and Shannon Golletz were on hand to accept award on behalf of the committee which also includes Craig Cunningham (Chair), Vicki Hartman, Fiona Apperson and Jennifer Foucault.

Annual General Meeting & Board Recruitment
Please mark your calendars for our Annual General Meeting taking place Monday June 25 at 5:00 p.m. More information will be coming soon. We are also on the hunt for new Board members! If you are interested in joining this team of passionate leaders, please click here for more information.