Getting a ‘lift’
Community, Lions Club band together to support fundraiser for Holly Oliver
Daily tasks for the Oliver family are about to get much easier thanks to the people and community they live in.
For the past four weeks, the community of Portugal Cove-st. Philip’s has banded together in conjunction with the Portugal Cove-st. Philip’s Lions Club to host an online auction that will raise money to purchase a lift for the van that is used to transport eight-year-old Holly Oliver.
“This is just like winning the lottery for us,” Lisa Oliver said with just over 24 hours remaining in an auction to raise funds for the lift.
The Lions Club donated its services to host the auction on Facebook to raise the nearly $26,000 required by the Olivers to have the lift installed. “I am grateful more than anything,” Lisa said Friday. “I never thought this was possible, because to do it yourself is hard. “I always had good intentions to try and get stuff going for her, but then something would happen and I would get pulled away.”
Oliver estimates she makes 30 to 40 trips a week with her two children, Holly, who was born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder and global developmental delay, and Hunter, who was born with cerebral palsy.
Unlike his sister, he is able to walk, talk and do some things on his own.
Holly is not so lucky.
She is confined to a wheelchair and relies on her mother, her primary caregiver, for everything, as she is immobile and unable to care for herself.
This left her family in a tough position, as Holly loves to go for drives, but she is almost nine years old and has grown to about 60 pounds, and Lisa finds it increasingly difficult to get Holly and Hunter in and out of the van as often as is necessary to live any semblance of a normal existence. “We don’t do things intentionally because it has gotten to be too much,” Lisa said.
“Just to go for a Sunday drive, to go to the park, is difficult. I had both of my kids in dance, a special class offered by Max Arts Athletic and Wellness facility. Even Hunter has asked, ‘Mommy, when can we get a lift? Can we go back to dance?’”
Lisa said this entire process unfolding in front of her is surreal for her, as she can’t believe it is happening.
“I grew up here and it is heartwarming to see everyone come together to help us,” she said.
“I didn’t want to ask for help. I am not that type of person.” It went so far as to do her own math on the situation. She knew the cost of the lift, but at the same time priced a car seat for Holly to the tune of $1,900. It didn’t take her long to figure out which way she had to lean.
Enter the Lions Club and event organizer Suzette Moss, a member of the Portugal Cove-st. Philip’s club who has championed the cause and is hoping it far exceeds the goal set out last month when plans for the auction started.
“Everybody in this community has come on board to help make this possible. Whether it was items for the auction or money, they have all been amazing,” Moss said.
“Right now there are more than 1,300 people active in this action seeking to bid on the 128 items we have on site.”
Moss thought 40 to 50 items was the number they would look at, but as they approach 130 on the site, and with the multiple financial donations, many of them anonymous, that have come in, the auction will far exceed fundraising expectations.
She is working hard right to the final seconds to ensure the obligations will be met.
Anyone wishing to bid on items can go online to www.facebook.com/groups/918340718336963/ and place a bid. Anyone who would like to help out in any way or make a donation, or who seeks information, can do so through the Facebook page or via email to Moss at suzettemoss@yahoo.com.
All funds raised through the auction will be used to purchase a rear-entry lift for the family vehicle to make the transition in and out stress-free.
The purchase price of a rear-entry conversion lift for a minivan, allowing wheel in/wheel out access, is $25,760. The work has to be done in Brampton, Ont., by a specialized company and will take about five weeks to complete.
This leaves Lisa without a vehicle for the duration of the work, a dynamic the family will figure out when their van goes to Ontario.
The Portugal Cove-st. Philip’s Lions Club is running the Facebook auction, managing the funds and paying them directly to the manufacturer of the lift.
In addition, the Lions Club recently announced it will match every dollar of monetary donations up to $5,000, toward the purchase of the lift.