Wellspring expansion will broaden its reach
More room for more dreams. When a bigger, new Wellspring Niagara opens in just over a year it will offer some 11,000-squarefeet of space — about a dozen rooms — for programs and people who are living with and affected by cancer.
“It will be quite magnificent,” says Ann Mantini-Celima, executive director.
That’s more than five times the amount of space it has now in a rather cramped facility in Thorold that it actually outgrew about five years ago, she says.
The new building, set to open in Pelham at the end of 2018, will feature room for a teaching kitchen so Wellspring can offer its Nourish program, an educational series on cancer and nutrition. There will be a room specifically for children so they can have a safe place for play-based therapy and expressive programs. And the popular cancer exercise program will have a room dedicated to rehabilitation activities to help cancer patients manage treatment-related symptoms.
More space means more people can be registered for programs, she says.
There will also be space outdoors too. A meditation garden. Quiet space for reflection.
“It will be a wonderful respite,” she said.
A day before the ground-breaking ceremony on Tuesday that will launch the organization’s fundraising campaign to the public, Mantini-Celima says she’s overwhelmed by the community support for an idea that started some 16 years ago.
It began with a promise to her younger brother, Aldo Mantini. He was dying of cancer and wanted his sister to continue his dream of creating a centre that would give people emotional, social and psychological support. A place that would have programs and information. A place people affected by cancer could go to be empowered. To meet others living a similar journey.
Aldo was 30 years old when he died in 1999.
And Mantini-Celima has been passionate about growing the program ever since.
In its first year, it began with five programs and 70 participants. Last year, it served more than 640 people across Niagara, and offered some 40 programs, all free of charge.
In 2008, it opened a satellite office in Stevensville. That space will close Oct. 26, however a full roster of programs will continue at the main Schmon Parkway building until the new facility is opened.
Wellspring Niagara has launched a $5-million Help Us Build Hope Campaign. The building will cost an estimated $3.5 million, and the remainder will be put into an endowment fund, to grow for the future, said Mantini-Celima.
To date, about half has been raised through major donors, she said.
The goal is to have the entire amount raised before the building is open. Construction has started.
A major accomplishment was having the 1.8 acres of land donated by Pelham, said Joe Matthews, campaign chairperson and cochair of the board of directors.
He was the first man to join Wellspring Niagara in 2002.
He was dealing with the emotions, the uncertainty of a cancer diagnosis. And at Wellspring, he found people who shared his experience.
“I found an acceptance,” he said. “A realization that I wasn’t the only one going through this.
“I drew great strength from those conversations.”
It offered him stability. Peace of mind.
He hopes the new building offers people the comfort of feeling as if they’re at home.
And Mantini-Celima hopes it fulfils her brother’s vision.
“He was an incredible young man. I’m just overwhelmed. That’s all I can say,” she said, voice wavering.
“It’s wonderful but it’s bittersweet.
“He’s been on my mind. I miss him greatly but I just know he’s been around.
“I know it’s making a difference.”