Thank You for Small Things That Make a Big Difference

Each year, when they send us their Gifts with Vision reports, our Mission and Service partners include wonderful stories about how your generosity has made a difference. This is a story we received recently from Mary Saulnier-Taylor, Executive Director at Coverdale Centre for Women in Saint John, New Brunswick. The Whatever They Need Most gift gives Coverdale Centre the ability to fill the immediate needs of the women who access their services and help them get a start on the bigger changes they’re making in their lives.

Thank you for adding our Whatever They Need Most campaign funding request to the Gifts with Vision brochure. With the funds received, we have been able to help procure ID and fill other needs for women who access our services. We have even been able to help women get necessary medications that they could not afford to purchase during the gap between when they arrive and when their health card is activated.   

An amazing example of the good these funds do is that we were able to help a woman change her life by paying for her birth certificate and helping with some travel expenses. This woman was quite isolated; she had no family nearby. She was struggling with her mental health, and it was hard for her to remember specific information that we needed to help her move forward. We were working with an incorrect birth date, and an incorrect birthplace. With help from a Western province’s Vital Statistics Department, Service NB, and Horizon Health, we were able to fill in the gaps, and she was reconnected with family who had been missing her for a long time. It took many days of phone calls, inter-agency cooperation, and perseverance to make it happen, but when she left NB for a new and improved life with her family, it was all worth it and really did come down to what she needed most—her ID.

We’re grateful for the funds that provide opportunities that seem far out of reach for women who live in poverty or are struggling in other ways. When they hear “We can help with that,” it relieves so much stress. It allows them room to problem solve the bigger issues in their lives without worrying about missing medication, how they will get ID, how they will get across town to an appointment, etc.

Sometimes all women need is a way to get back to their support network in another city or town. Funds for a bus ticket make all the difference.

Your generous donations have helped Coverdale women take necessary steps toward positive change in their lives. Thank you.