Another fundraiser planned for Doucette’s van fund
Benefit Bingo set for Oct. 27 in Tignish
In less than a month since launching a fundraising campaign, a committee has already collected more than $33,000 for a 39-year-old West Prince woman in need of a wheelchair accessible van.
A benefit concert on Sunday at the Tignish Legion raised $21,007, and donations leading up to the benefit have boosted the total raised to $33,471. “That is amazing,” Lisa Doucette remarked when informed of the contributions that have been flowing in to help her regain some of the independence the years of suffering from Multiple Sclerosis have stolen from her. “People are so generous,” commented Janie McRae, a member of the fundraising committee.
The total raised includes $5,450 that Doucette’s aunt, Della Knox McKenna raised for her through a door-todoor canvass of her Brighton neighbourhood in Charlottetown, $3,000 from Tignish resident Vernon Gaudette, and $1,000 each from Arsenault’s Fishmart and Palmer Road Knights of Columbus. Gaudette is also helping to arrange the purchase and delivery of a used wheelchair accessible van, and the Knights of Columbus is hosting a benefit prize/craft bingo for Doucette. The bingo will be held at the K of C Hall on Friday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. McRae said the committee hopes to receive the van by late October or early November.
“It will be a lot better than tugging and lifting,” Doucette’s caregiver, Donna Perry, said in describing the process of transferring Doucette from her wheelchair to a lift seat and then repositioning her into the front seat of the Doucette family’s van.
The process is so exhausting for both Doucette and her caregiver that Doucette often elects to stay at home, thus missing out on social interaction.
The committee heading up the fundraising campaign is, essentially, the same group of people who fundraised for a wheelchair accessible van for Gloria Ellsworth of nearby St. Peter and St. Paul. McRae said they are hoping to obtain a similar van for Doucette.