2015 directors for Highway To Healing, left to right, Gail Barriskill, Joan McCaughey, Cindy Gosling, Riley Martin, Ernie Dumais, Tanya Martin, Shelley Bolingbroke. On our banner Lynnea Holmstrom.

Highway to Healing Support Society

2014 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

President’s Report

Highway to Healing Support Society is an Oliver charity offering financial assistance to local families who need to travel to access medical treatment for their children. 2014 was our first full year of operation as a charity and it has been a busy time. To that end, we have provided assistance to five families in 2014 and we are ready to help others should they need help with travel expenses for medical care. By helping these families, we have alleviated some of the stress associated when they have a sick child. All the children involved needed care at Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. As we all know the cost of travel, and accommodation in Vancouver can be expensive.

This assistance would not be possible if it were not for the generous, caring community in which we live. Many individuals, service clubs and corporations have donated to Highway to Healing. The Board made several presentations to community organizations that resulted in many donations to H2H. More recently we were so happy to receive a donation from a young school girl who celebrated her birthday and requested that her friends donate to H2H rather than bring gifts. Third party fund raising is always welcome and this one was most special.

We applied to the South Okanagan/Similkameen Community Foundation for some funding. Their selection committee saw fit to grant Highway to Healing some funding for our start-up projects. We also got involved with Telus during its “Optic” TV and Internet Promotion. H2H received a grant from Telus for every person who subscribed to their service and who had identified our organization as their choice of a “charity” in the community.

The Michael Burgess concert preoccupied the Board’s time for several months this past year. The results of our efforts were successful in a number of ways. We gained considerable awareness for Highway to Healing, made good contacts and partnered in presenting a great concert by Michael Burgess and his pianist, Carol Colpitts. We felt that the audience enjoyed the concert, however the numbers attending did not meet our expectation. We thank those people who came out to the concert, the sponsors, the food/beverage vendors, the media and all of the volunteers who made the evening enjoyable.

During the year we worked on a number of projects. We completed our Policy and Procedure Statements modifying the Nelson “Friends of Families” document to reflect the situation in Oliver. This required several meetings resulting in several drafts prepared by director, Riley Martin, and reviewed by volunteers, Shawna Michaud and Leona Baptiste. This document will be a useful set of guidelines for governance of our Society.

Other items dealt with during 2014 included: design of rack cards and distribution of these to doctors’ offices, the hospital nurses’ station and pediatric doctors’ offices in Penticton; design of a retractable banner for use at various presentations; purchase of tee shirts and wine glasses with our logo for resale; name tags for directors’ identification at special events; and an information pamphlet to give our clients outlining further sources of assistance.

The Board of Directors have worked purposefully for the benefit of the Highway to Healing Support Society. Their work has been appreciated by everyone concerned. Thanks to: Bob Currie for taking care of the money matters of the organization; Riley Martin for his work on the Policy and Procedure Statements and publicity; Shelley Bolingbroke for preparing the minutes and being our liaison with the health care workers; Tanya Martin for her work on the fundraising committee, purchasing tee shirts and wine glasses for resale and Joan McCaughey for her part in the development of the Policy and Procedure Statements and the preparation of an Information Pamphlet. And as mentioned above, the entire Board put a lot of time into the production of the Michael Burgess Concert. I would also like to acknowledge the work that Janice and Larry Stevens did for us before their move to Princeton. Janice spent the first few months as the secretary and Larry checked around to find the best insurance coverage for the directors of Highway to Healing and solicited sponsors for the Michael Burgess Concert.

I cannot thank Bob Currie enough for his part in getting H2H started. I would like to wish Bob and Patricia well in their new pursuits.

I know the families that were assisted by the funding provided by Highway to Healing appreciated our efforts.

Finally, the Board of the Highway to Healing Support Society wishes that all the families in our community remain healthy, however, if some families find that they need to travel out of the area for medical care, we are ready to help. “Helping families get there” is our motto!

Ernie Dumais
President