Niagara distress centre receives largest gift ever
Diamond Estates Wines and Spirits made the largest donation ever to Distress Centre of Niagara on Tuesday, presenting the organization with more than $20,000.
The donation broke two records: the most the distress centre has received in a single donation, and the most donated by the winery as a result of its charity golf tournament.
Staff from both organizations gathered at the newly built Lake view Wine Co. tasting centre for Diamond Estates in Niagara-on-the-Lake to make the donation official.
The distress centre’s crisis-prevention line provides emotional support and suicide and crisis prevention and intervention to anybody in need in Niagara.
The money will go towards keeping the 24-hour telephone crisis line open year round, as well as helping to recruit and train crisis-line volunteers in dealing with crisis situations, said Stacy Terry, executive director of the distress centre.
She said the centre handled more than 14,200 calls in the past fiscal year and has averaged about 13,000 calls each year for the past five years.
She said the donation helps the centre get its employees prepared to deal with situations they might encounter.
Terry said where other organizations tend to have volunteers support employees, the distress centre works slightly different in that phones are answered by volunteers and the staff supports them.
Murray Souter, president and chief executive officer of Diamond Estates, said his organization has always tried to support local charities.
He said employees made the decision as to which charity they wanted to donate this year.
“We know they’ll use the money appropriately to help with the administration operation. They’re (the distress centre) such a valuable part of the community and that’s part of the reason why we wanted to be part of it.”
Distress Centre of Niagara has been in operation for 47 years and is mostly funded by the United Way, as well as help from community donations.