Siblings Leah and Jacob Veltman were so touched by the way Hospice Wellington took care of their grandmother in her final days, they felt they had to do something.
After their grandmother Joyce Seip passed away from cancer in Hospice Wellington on Monday, Leah, 6, and Jacob, 11, launched Jacob & Leah's Run for Hospice Wellington, a fundraiser where the two will run in order to raise $10,000 for the organization.
The pair said they wanted to raise funds for Hospice to support others in the same way their grandmother was supported where she was safe, comfortable and treated with dignity and respect.
“I don’t like how people get hurt and people are in pain,” said Leah.
Jacob said Hospice Wellington felt like a home and everyone was nice and kind.
“There’s lots of stuff there and they’re really nice and they took care of our grandma a lot and there are lots of volunteers,” said Jacob.
Leah and Jacob, who live in Waterloo, both set a distance goal the same number as their age and are relying on their community to help raise money and even join if they please. Leah will run 6 km and Jacob with run 11 km in Waterloo’s RIM Park. The date and time have not been set.
The fundraiser already raised over $2,300.
The children said they remember their grandmother Joyce as a strong woman who always cheered them on every accomplishment and attended their every race.
“We are all going to miss her a lot. She was such an awesome lady,” said Leah and Jacob.
Two years ago, the children held a bake sale to raise money for cancer research that raised over $1,000. While they wanted to do the same this year, safety reasons in relation to the pandemic limited their activities. So they came up with the idea for the run themselves which is something they love. Leah said while she never ran long distance before, she’s up for the challenge.
“They’ve been wanting to do this for a while,” said their mom Tonya Veltman in tears “So seeing them do it is really great.”
“They knew they wanted to reach that goal for Hospice because they knew it was an important place for grandma,” their mom said.
She said Hospice Wellington took all kinds of measures to make sure not only Joyce was okay, but also her family who was provided with all kinds of support to go through the tough time, showing that the organization truly cares about its guests.
“Even during this time, they knew we all couldn’t be there at once and so they took measures to make sure that when it was the very end that most of us could be in her presence. They took her outside,” said Tonya.
“She was able to pass outside with her immediate family present which was really great and the rest of the family was able to join afterwards and they do a nice little ceremony,” said Veltman. “They knew us all by name when we would walk through the door. Even the volunteers.”
John Gilbert, events coordinator for Hospice set up the third-party fundraiser. He said Hospice Wellington has a budget in the millions and 50 per cent of it relies on fundraising that pays upkeep of the organization and services such as counselling, grief support for patients and families.
“You don’t really expect young people to have this much initiative and it’s wonderful when they do. You know they have such enthusiasm and passion for their grandma and it’s so wonderful to see and we so appreciative of that,” said Gilbert.
“All of these funds are super, super crucial to make sure we can keep everything free of charge in our community.”
