Wellington on the Lake residents’ garage sale supports equipment for new hospital

Pictured at the WOTL community Centre in Wellington from left: Rick Stevens from WOLRA; Briar Boyce, senior development officer with PECMHF; Nancy Parks, Back the Build campaign chairperson; Doug Henderson with WOLRA; Monica Alyea, PECMHF board member and Bill Pennell with WOLRA. Submitted photo

For more than 20 years, their old has been your new.

Wellington on the Lake (WOTL) residents held their annual garage sale at their clubhouse in May, and Doug Henderson, co-ordinator, was pleased to present $1,500 in proceeds to Nancy Parks, Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation’s Back the Build Campaign Chairperson.

The donation will support major equipment purchases, such as a Computerized Tomography (CT) Scanner, digital mammography equipment, and environmental sustainability enhancements that are part of the PECMHF’s Back the Build campaign for the new hospital.

“Since many WOTL residents rely on our County hospital for care, the garage sale committee felt a contribution should be made to Back the Build for our new hospital, which not only helps WOTL residents, but benefits everyone in Prince Edward County,” said Henderson. “We wanted to Back the Build because there is an overwhelming need for an upgrade to our County hospital.”

The garage sale at WOTL historically raises funds to support activities for the residents as well as contribute to improvements to the property. In recent years, there has been significant growth in the number of people residing at WOTL.

“We are thankful for the creative fundraising initiatives that local businesses and community members dream up,” said Parks. “On average, over $100,000 is raised each year by third-party events, like the WOTL garage sale, to help PECMHF provide the best quality and safest patient care possible and get us closer to building our new hospital in the County.”

“Prince Edward County residents need access to a medical facility with leading-edge equipment, beds and services needed for facilitating essential patient care,” added Henderson.

The WOTL garage sale is a huge endeavour taking place over a period of three days. It requires about 100 hard-working volunteers to set up and accept donations on the Thursday and Friday before the sale, work the sale on Saturday and then clean up.

Items leftover after the sale were divided between seven local not-for-profit organizations.

“The garage sale couldn’t have been accomplished without the generosity of our amazing community and the 100-plus volunteers who provided their time over a three-day period. We involve as many people as we can and we try to do the best we can with what we receive,” said Henderson. “Though the garage sale is a lot of hard work, the volunteers feel satisfied making it fun for each other, making new friends and pulling the community together for an excellent cause – our hospital.”

The Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to raising funds to advance health care for the patients of the hospital and the people of Prince Edward County.