P.E.I. Easter Seals: Where your donations go

As students bring their loonies and toonie to schools across the Island to support the annual Easter Seals school campaign some might be wondering exactly where all that money goes.

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Easter Seals on P.E.I. raises between $110,000 to $130,000 everyyear for several Island charities, some of which have come to depend on the money to provide programming to Island children with physical and mental challenges.

Last year the school campaign alone raised more than $37,000.

Our community would not be the same without Easter Seals. Regan Lewis, 2016 P.E.I. Easter Seals campaign co-chair

"The Rotary Club of Charlottetown charitable trust essentially owns the franchise for Easter Seals, and they partner with the rotary club of Montague and Summerside," explained Regan Lewis, the volunteer co-chair of the 2016 Easter Seals campaign.

The clubs have a volunteer committee that accepts proposals for funding from organizations that assist Island youth with disabilities. They can't help an individual or family, but do sometimes receive requests then, they'll help those people contact an organization that might be able to help them.

Camp Gencheff, Joyriders Therapeutic Riding Association, PEI Cerebral Palsy Association, PEI Council ofPeople With Disabilities and the PEI Association for Community Living are organizations that usually receive Easter Seals funding.

Camp Gencheff, which received $24,000 last year from Easter Seals, has been the major annual beneficiary, with a relationship that goes back 55 years.

"We want to be able to provide this to people regardless of income," said Camp Gencheff board member Edna Reid. She points out that a week of summer camp for one camper costs Gencheff $1,000, but they charge only $150.

"Without that funding it would be very difficult to do the summer camp or winter weekend respite programs," Reid said. She notes the cost for Camp Gencheff is higher than other youth camps because it requires more highly-trained staff and keeps camper-to-staff ratios very low for safety reasons.

'We ride horses'

Joyriders, which has existed for almost 40 years, provides horseback riding and horsemanship lessons to 30 Island children, and there's a waiting list.

"The looks on their faces!" exclaims Joyriders vice-president Janice Cole. "For some of them, this is the only recreational activity they can be a part of. They have brothers, sisters, friends that play soccer, hockey and all this. But they are the ones that can say 'we go to Joyriders, we ride horses.' And it's just an amazing thing."

Joyriders uses funding from Easter Seals $5,000 in 2015 to rent the arena, buy special equipment andfeed and housethe horses. None of the money is spent on administration, Cole said, since everyone is a volunteer. The group's annual budget is $40,000.

"Our community would not be the same without Easter Seals," Lewis said, adding it is the rotary ethos to help those less fortunate at home and around the world.

He's excited and pleased the campaign appears to be on par with last year and is hoping to raise even more than last year.

As well as mailing requests for renewed funding to last year's donors with their tax receipts, Lewis said Easter Seals also solicits businesses and seeks major corporate sponsors such as Amalgamated Dairies Ltd. and Maritime Electric.

Some Islanders will also this year be receiving what Lewis calls a "targeted mail-out to certain communities" to increase Easter Seals' donor base.

Rotary hires a co-ordinator to run the six-month Easter Seals fundraising campaign, but does not have a full time staff member.