Happy New Year, Team Tory! It’s been a while since I updated you and I hope that’s OK. If I’m being honest I needed a bit of a break after our incredibly successful 2018 campaign. Now that it’s a new year and with the holidays behind us, I’m (mostly) recharged.
So here’s an update on our progress to-date, and since I always want to be transparent about the money we raise and spend on Tory’s behalf, I’ll warn you that there are lots of numbers here – so grab a coffee and hang in there.
When we met with the Odette Cancer Centre and Sunnybrook Foundation around this time last year to check in on the Patient Buddy Program we were high on the success of our 2017 fundraising campaign, which kicked off just three months after Tory died and raised $69,218 for programs that improve the comfort of cancer patients. (A donation matching program increased that total to $128,428.)
And when we started talking about 2018, they were very direct with some sobering insight: most charities see a big drop in donations from Year 1 to Year 2. The emotion is less raw, enthusiasm wanes, etc. We faced tough odds to repeat the success of our inaugural campaign.
Which makes it even more amazing to announce that The Tory Day Fund actually increased our fundraising total in 2018 – we raised $73,874!
How did we do it?
- Knowing that individual donations would be down – we looked for new sources of funding and introduced Tory’s Table, which raised $6,705.
- We received donations from IBM Canada that totaled $12,214.
- Team Tory’s fundraising efforts – everything from a PureTouch Soccer fundraiser to Deuce Tattoo’s donation to Tory’s nieces and nephews selling painted rocks at the cottage – all contributed in a big way: a total of $8,640.
- Individual donations, while down from the previous year, still totaled $15,885.
- And of course, our signature event, Tory’s Night of Nonsense, raised a record $30,410.
Simply incredible. $73,874 raised. Tory would be so proud of us.
Now comes the most important part: making sure every dollar donated gets to programs that give cancer patients a little comfort when they desperately need it. And by that measure 2018 was an incredible year (and spoiler alert: 2019 will be even better).
- The first program we funded was the Patient Buddy Program at Odette Cancer Centre, the first of its kind, and one that literally would not exist without The Tory Day Fund. In its first year, the program saw 9 volunteers become “Buddies” to welcome patients to the centre and ensure they had someone to help them navigate what would otherwise be an incredibly stressful visit. In total, Patient Buddies interacted with 2,274 patients last year. That program cost $21,500 to run last year, mostly in staffing costs and patient education materials, and will increase to almost $29K in 2019.
- Next, we funded the purchase of 8 state-of-the-art chairs for the chemotherapy suite at Odette Cancer Centre, replacing the old, grey, uncomfortable chairs patients like Tory had been sitting in for years. And best news of all, Odette was able to acquire them at half the original cost – so we ended up purchasing 8 more chairs for a total of 16! The new set of 8 should be delivered in the next month, and they too will be in the beautiful, vibrant colours of the first order. The total cost for the16 chairs is $44,400.
So after an incredible fundraising campaign we found ourselves late last year with a significant amount of money left to invest in cancer comfort programs, and wanted to bring the dollars a little closer to home in 2019. In addition to continuing funding of the Patient Buddy Program:
- We’ve started discussions with the S. McLaughlin Durham Regional Cancer Centre at Lakeridge Health in Oshawa to see what programs of theirs require funding.
- We’re meeting next with
Hearth Place Cancer Support Centre, which provides comfort to cancer patients in a home-like atmosphere. Given the focus of The Tory Day Fund and Hearth Place’s mandate, it seems like a natural fit for our funds.
We’ll of course keep you updated, and I hope you agree that both of these would be a really great way to extend Tory’s legacy – especially in the city she and her brothers were born and raised in.
OK, because it’s the new year and time for reflection and renewal and all the other themes you read on Instagram this time of year, let me leave you with this thought if I can, and relay a quick story.
When Tory found herself in a bit of career transition a few year ago, moving between IBM Canada and Lenovo and then back to IBM, she had to make a decision to cut ties – to quit. And those who knew Tory know she was many things but a quitter wasn’t one of them. (In fact, she loved to remind me how she drove b
ack and forth from Oshawa to The Keg near the airport for more than a year because she didn’t want to bring herself to quit a job she loved.)
We were on vacation in Sarasota and the deadline by which Tory had to give notice to leave Lenovo was here. We went out for dinner, talked it out over a glass or two of wine – when most good decisions are made – and waited in the parking lot to send the email confirming her intention to quit.
Before she did, Tory changed the subject line to the HR person. She typed four simple letters, “YOLO” – You Only Live Once – and hit send.
Tory knew that every day was a gift. She knew that her job didn’t define her. She knew the most important things in her life were just as they always were: her friends and her family. She knew that a minor blip in her career wouldn’t change any of that, and she never regretted her decision for a second.
There’s a lesson in that for you and me. It’s not to live each day like it’s your last – that’s mostly a cliché. To me the lesson is to be thankful every day of your life, and to be your best self.
So that’s what I wish for you. Don’t worry needlessly. Be kind to both loved ones and strangers. Prioritize your friends and family. Give generously – just like you did in 2018 with The Tory Day Fund. Show gratitude. And be the best version of you that’s ever been.
You only live once. Have a great year.
J.
P.S. Circle Saturday, October 12, on your calendar – that’s the date of our Third Annual Tory’s Night of Nonsense. I can’t wait to see you there and celebrate another successful campaign.