Fabulous shoes and a fabulous sendoff

It was no ordinary celebration of life.

Rather, it was a party.

“The Party,” to be exact, as determined by its host, Wendi Campbell, who planned the event in her usual meticulous detail, right down to the instructions that attendees avoid the black that is usually worn on such occasions and instead opt for “jeans, blazers, and fabulous shoes.”

Our community lost Wendi in January after her courageous battle with the cancer that she insisted her friends not search on Google (glioblastoma). Instead, she regarded travelling for treatments as “fancy hat and mascara days.”

In the 19 months Wendi persevered, she also planned, leaving behind precise instructions for her final farewell. The hundreds in attendance at last weekend’s party followed those instructions to a T.

There were jeans. There were blazers. There were fabulous shoes. And there was a testament to Wendi’s commitment to our community.

Wendi was best known outwardly in her role as the chief executive officer of the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, where she’d worked since 1999. John Neufeld, executive director of the House of Friendship, remembered Wendi as someone who wanted to lead the community to work in smarter, strategic, and more effective ways.

“Status quo wasn’t good enough,” Neufeld said. “Every time we thought we had figured something out, she wanted to know what was next. How could we make it better? How could we innovate? How could we stand out and be different?”

Wendi, of course, was so much more than the leader of an integral community agency. She was, first and foremost, mom to Maddie and Ben. She was wife and best friend to Craig. She was a world traveller, lover of good wine, and a fancy shoe aficionado.

She was also a gracious host, opening her home to friends at every opportunity, believing that by bringing good people together, good things happen in our community.

“We often talked about how we’d never be the ones who could write large cheques to build hospitals or support big asks,” Craig said at The Party. “But we could do our part by being engaged in the community. I think she succeeded.”

Wendi did succeed, and she showed the way for others.

It’s evident in the commitment to community demonstrated not only by her family but by those around them, including the minor hockey teams that participated in a fundraiser to buy equipment that would make life easier for patients in the hospital where Wendi spent time recovering from surgery.

Wendi proved you don’t need fabulous wealth to build community, raise barns, and blaze a trail. She was inspired by Dr. Seuss.

“Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, love the people who treat you right, forgive the ones who don’t, and believe everything happens for a reason. If you get the chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it.”

Our community is not the same without Wendi Campbell, but her legacy commands that we continue to build it, pushing boundaries and never settling for status quo.

Also, buy the shoes and drink the wine.