Community support gives future to orphaned siblings
Donations will keep the family together
Five Abbotsford orphans are feeling “relief and overwhelming gratitude” after a Postmedia story about their plight went viral over the weekend and the community rallied to help.
Just moments after the story of the five recently orphaned Saint-Ange children was posted on the Vancouver Sun and Province websites on Saturday, the phone of family advocate Jen Macpherson started ringing. Macpherson said she was on her hands and knees with the kids, assembling the beds that Sleep Country Canada had just delivered to replace their motley collection of old mattresses, when notifications started pinging from their GoFundMe page (gofundme.com/ wade-saint-ange-family).
Within 48 hours of the story running, close to $100,000 had been raised, and the amount is moving steadily toward the goal of $150,000. The money will be put in trust with a goal of keeping the family together while the eldest, Nadine, 22, and Nina, 21, apply for guardianship and support the three youngest, Chelsy, 17, Wade, 16, and Kelsy, 15, through their final years of high school.
The family began to break down after the eldest brother, Ryan, was murdered in 2012. The five remaining siblings were orphaned three weeks ago when their father, Wade, collapsed and died of a heart attack in their kitchen. Their mother, Mary, died of a sudden asthma attack last August.
The children had been extremely anxious about going public with their story, said Macpherson, but the response has been overwhelming and positive.
“They were so nervous, but with every donation and every message of support, a wave of relief came over them. It was very clear to them how much the community cares about them, almost surreal,” said Macpherson. “Everyone has been so wonderful and gentle and supportive with their messages; they feel really cared for.”
Donations have come from other parents, teachers, former neighbours and hundreds of strangers moved by their plight.
Community members made financial donations, but others have offered kind services. Abbotsford Nissan donated $5,000 to the family and offered summer jobs for the kids; Bruce Ramsey, a counsellor from TraumaServe, has volunteered to provide counselling; and Aldergrove Animal Hospital has offered veterinary care to their two dogs, Peg and Ombre.
“For the last few years, they’ve just survived. This is giving them all an opportunity to dream a little. I’m seeing transformation already,” said Macpherson.
On Tuesday, she will accompany Nina and Nadine to family court for the first step in the application process for formal guardianship. They will also seek professional advice on how to manage the donated funds, possibly through a trust.
“We’ve gone from talking about whether they’d be able to stay in the house for another month to making plans for their future.”