Wellspring takes big steps toward new home
With construction of Wellspring Niagara’s new headquarters only months away, the organization’s representatives on embarked on what they hope will become a new tradition.
About a hundred people participated in the inaugural Winter Walk for Wellspring on the streets of Fonthill on a warm but windy Saturday morning, kicking off the organization’s $5-million capital fundraising campaign in the process.
Wellspring executive director Ann Mantini-Celima was impressed with the participation.
“For our first year, we didn’t know what to expect. We really wanted to launch it for the first time and put it out there, and we’re going to make this a regular annual event for families to come out and bring awareness.”
The new facility is being constructed behind the new Food Basics store, on 0.8 hectares of land donated by the Town of Pelham.
When the building is complete, Mantini-Celima said, the walk will begin annually from there.
“The future of Wellspring Niagara is right behind the Food Basics,” said Wellspring Niagara board chairman Joe Matthews.
Thanks to the support of the town and citizens, “we’re fortunate to have a new home for Wellspring Niagara.”
Referring to Saturday’s 13˚C temperatures, Mayor Dave Augustyn told participants “thankfully it doesn’t feel much like winter, it feels more like spring.”
“I think that’s indicative of what people are feeling about Wellspring in terms of the new facility that’s coming up here,” he said.
After years of the project being discussed, Augustyn said it’s finally becoming a reality. “We’re hopeful that this spring we’ll have shovels in the ground to start that facility.”
Wellspring Niagara assists people throughout the region who have been diagnosed with cancer by providing free programs and services to help them cope with the disease.
Wellspring’s $5-million capital campaign will be officially launched in conjunction with the start of construction, but Mantini-Celima said the organization is already “well on our way.”