The Border City Beat Heart Defects Society of Windsor and Essex County Heart Defects Society of Windsor and Essex County Hearts weren t meant to be born broken Registered Charity #89893 7818 RR0001 Volume10, Issue 1 Winter 2012 Meet The New Board Of Directors Last August, we had our Annual General Meeting. At this meeting some board members were re-elected on to the Board, and some new members were also elected on to the Board. So we would like to take this chance to let you get to know a little about each Board member. Brian Caza (President) has been with the Heart Defects Society (HDS) since July of 2006, with his then fiancée, Francine Bryar, former HDS Founder/ President, who also had Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). He s seen what a patient with CHD goes through, and feels that no child should have to go through that alone. Brian joined and has worked with the HDS, to help ALL people affected by CHD's. CHD patients believe they are alone, and have no one to talk to. The HDS was created to help alleviate this alienated feeling. They can meet others, and not feel alone Brian feels that this organization fills the gaps between the lack of medical attention in the Windsor and Essex County area. With the Melissa Trothen Memorial Fund (MTMF), the HDS is able to financially assist those needing to travel. It also helps educate the community, and its members, and is a great way for CHD patients to meet other CHD patients and not feel so alone. I see this organization doing one of two things in the future: 1 The need for the HDS to not exist, due to the finding of a cure for Congenital Heart Defects or 2- Becoming an organization that will spread from the Windsor/Essex County area to an Ontario or Canada Wide organization. Darren Womack (Vice President) got involved with the Heart Defects Society (HDS) in late 2007 after reading about the charity in The Windsor Star. As a parent of an affected child he was interested to meet others in similar situations and understand a bit more about what the HDS was trying to do and to understand the organizations general goals. In February of 2008, he joined the Board of Directors with goals of growing the organization for the future. In August 2008 Darren was nominated as Vice-President which he has continued as for the past 3 1/2 years. The HDS means a great deal to Darren, as he personally understands many of the difficulties young families face during treatment of their child. There is both a significant emotional and a significant financial impact that families have to deal with. This is where Darren envision the HDS to be able to provide the greatest help. Emotionally, the group provides the opportunity for families to meet others in similar situations who understand the difficulties they face. We are able to help with the financial burden families face with out of town medical expenses with the Melissa Trothen Memorial Fund. Darren feels the future of the HDS is very bright. Over the last several years our fund raising efforts have been nothing short of fantastic and are getting better every year as our exposure increases and with the stable foundation that has been built, we will be able to grow our outreach into the future and become the premier local charity in Canada providing support within our community of Windsor/Essex County.
Page 2 MEET THE BOARD CONTINUE: Tiffany Benoit (Treasurer) has officially been involved with the Heart Defects Society (HDS) since August 2011, and unofficially involved since 2009, as a member. Francine contacted Tiffany after her son was born in 2008. After that time, Tiffany started coming to various events, such as the Pasta Dinner, Family Picnic, and Walk N Roll. She originally became involved to be in contact with other families that were going through the same issues. After awhile, it became important to her to help others in similar situations, and to raise awareness that was clearly lacking. To be able to help other families during their difficult times, not only financially, but more importantly, emotionally means a lot to Tiffany. After her son was born, she didn t know who to talk to. The internet is a great resource, but also can be a very scary one. As for the future of the HDS, Tiffany hopes to be able to help as many families as possible in some way. My goal is that every person affected by a CHD in the community knows about us, regardless of whether or not they use our services. At the same time, I would like to maintain our low operating costs and keep our management on a volunteer basis. Stephanie Voakes (Secretary) was born without a spleen (asplenia), and congenital heart disease (CHD), consisting of multiple heart defects. Besides having two cardiac catheters and going through so many tests, she s also undergone three surgeries: Left Blalock Shunt, Glenn Shunt, followed by a Modified Fontan. She s recovered from three transient ischemic attacks (mini strokes), the first one occurring at age 18. Today, Stephanie is an active adult, doing as well as can be physically expected. Stephanie learned of the Heart Defects Society, in 2008, when asked to purchase tickets for the annual pasta dinner from Francine. In doing so, she found a sense of belonging, to know that there are others, like her, surprisingly closer to home. Coming from a small town and growing up with CHD was a struggle, I never felt like I fit in, there was no one, like me, as at that time, Stephanie was the only one in her hometown, with a serious heart problem. In working with the Heart Defects Society, her goal is to continue to spread the word and to reach out to families, that may not know that there is support for them, and to lend support to those with heart defects themselves, as she understands how difficult it is, to deal with.
Page 3 MEET THE BOARD CONTINUE: Beatrice Phelps (Social Director/ Walk N Roll) been with the Heart Defects Society (HDS) since it began in June, 2000. She joined to help her daughter, Francine, with her dream of helping Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) people. Beatrice has always been the Social Director, she became a Board Member in 2006. Since then, Beatrice has been hard at work keeping the Heart Defect Society, the charity that Francine always wanted it to be. To me it means a great deal to keep Fran s legacy alive. organization expanding beyond our borders. I can envision the Warren Hayes (Director/ Pooker Run) has been involved with the Heart Defects Society for over two years. He was elected on the Board of Directors in August 2010. Warren s wife, Gen, lost her daughter Christine to an undetected CHD in October of 2005, at age of 19. They both learned that with helping others with CHD s, they can raise awareness and at the same time, honor the memory of their loss. Warren s involvement, has for the most part been in a fundraising capacity. He and his committee, organized the first annual Pooker Ride on July 25 th, 2010 and raised over $25,000, with the help of many friends for HDS. Warren enjoys serving the Heart Defects Society and hopes to continue for as long as he is able. If I can t do it, I got people that can. Krista Holland (Director/Office Manager) works full time in a long term nursing home, taking care of the elderly and has done so for the past 15 yrs. She enjoys spending time with her close friends and spending as much time with her fur baby, Mady, who is generally at her side whenever it is possible. Stephanie brought the Heart Defects Society (HDS) to Krista s attention in 2009 when they participated in the 2009 Walk N Roll. Krista has been volunteering for the Heart Defect Society (HDS) since 2010. In August of 2011, she became a board member. Krista s best friend Stephanie, was born with multiple heart defects, they have been friends for 30+ years. I have watched, and been at her side as she has gone through ups and downs battling her heart conditions. Being beside her, through all these challenges, I always wish I could do more. And now I can. Krista looks forward to helping get the information and support out into the community. Also she would like to help make the HDS a well-recognized local charity that helps as many people as possible.
Page 4 2th ANNUAL POOKER RUN We had 90 bikes that rode through-out Essex County on a beautiful, sunny day. We raised over $25,000 for the 2 nd Annual, Christine Sorrell Memorial Pooker Run. We look forward to seeing more bikes out riding with us, this year! 6th ANNUAL WALK N ROLL SPECIAL THANK YOU!!!!!! CAW LOCAL 200 CAW LOCAL 444 We appreciated all those that came out to help raise over $6,000 for our blustery, 6 th Annual Walk N Roll. Though it was extremely windy, the walk and BBQ after went very well considering the weather conditions. Thank you to all that came out. It was a fun day! Congenital Heart Defects Week February 8th-14th This year, we had our Heart Defects Society flag raised, at the City Hall on February 8 th, the beginning of CHD Week. Our 2 nd Annual Bowling Night, was also on February 8 th. It was nice to see everyone out and having a fun time with other HDS members. The Pasta Dinner Fundraiser, brought in over $2,500. We had more people than anticipated, which we are grateful for, as that means we are reaching more people and raising more awareness. We also honoured Jim Maxim and his daughter Jamie with plaques, and a dog tag for Cooper. We thank him for the generous donation that he raised while biking in his Across Canada Conquest last year. We also had a display at Devonshire Mall on the weekend. The volunteers did a wonderful job informing others, about CHD s and what The Heart Defects Society, can do for them.
Page 5 Announcements Submissions welcomed and encouraged. For our new Announcements section, we would like to have the birthdays, anniversaries (surgery, wedding etc) and milestones (entering into a new area of life, such as first day of school, high school, university or parenthood). News that you would like to share is also welcome. If you have an upcoming surgery, or are recovering from an illness, we would like to add you to our thoughts. Let us know about it! Please contact Stephanie at the HDS for any submissions you would like to enter. Call 519 973 0915 or email submissions to: Stephanie@ HeartDefectsSociety.org Melissa Trothen Memorial Fund In these tough economic times, it can be difficult to scrape enough money together for extras. It seems that we are all cutting back, and doing without things in order to make ends meet. Missing appointments because of financial matters should not be one of those extras. The Melissa Trothen Memorial Fund is available to help. If you require financial assistance to keep appointments in Toronto or London, or if you or your loved one requires surgery, please don t hesitate to contact us at 519 973 0915. There is an application form available to print and mail back to us on our website at www.heartdefectssociety.org/mtmfund.html Francine Bryar Memorial Bursary Francine Bryar passed away on September 7, 2010 at the age of 36, while recovering from heart transplant surgery. She was born with complex congenital heart defects, it was her goal and passion to help other adults, children and families with similar issues. She treated the organization as if it was her child, nurturing it, loving it and helping it grow to what it is today. The Francine Bryar Memorial Bursary is an award established by the Heart Defects Society of Windsor and Essex County. Her legacy will live on through the Francine Bryar Memorial Bursary, which has been established to aid the educational pursuits of CHD afflicted youth of Windsor and Essex County. A Bursary of $500.00 will be made each year to a student with a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) entering any accredited post secondary educational institution. In order to be eligible to receive the bursary: The applicant must have graduated or will graduate during the current academic year from a high school located in Windsor or Essex County. The applicant must be accepted for admission as a full time student to an accredited post secondary educational institution. Applications must be received by no later than, April 30.
Page 6 Save the dates! Walk N Roll - May 5, 2012 Picnic Social - June 9, 2012 Pooker Run - September 16, 2012 We re on the web! Visit us at www.heartdefectssociety.org Hearts weren t meant to be born broken Registered Charity# 89893 7818 RR0001 Heart Defects Society Board of Directors President Brian Caza Brian@HeartDefectsSociety.org Vice President Darren Womack Darren@HeartDefectsSociety.org Treasurer Tiffany Benoit Tiffany@HeartDefectsSociety.org Secretary Stephanie Voakes Stephanie@HeartDefectsSociety.org Social Director/Walk N Roll Beatrice Phelps Beatrice@HeartDefectsSociety.org Director/ Pooker Run Warren Hayes Warren@HeartDefectsSociety.org Director/Office Manager Krista Holland Krista@HeartDefectsSociety.org Contact Information Web Site Address www.heartdefectssociety.org How to Contact the Heart Defects Society By phone: (519) 973 0915 or By mail: 1479 Tecumseh Road E. Windsor, Ontario N8W 1C2 By email: info@heartdefectssociety.org