Mr. Speaker, I rise today in the House to honour the work of John Fairley and the “Face to Face” campaign he founded, which has raised $1.2 million over the last 18 years in support of the Hospice of Windsor and Essex County.
Hospice provides palliative care and an oasis of peace, comfort and trust for the patients who are on their end of life journey and their families.
Hospice depends on donations to provide that critical care. However, the economic impact of COVID-19 and the closure of fundraisers threatened this vital mission. However, John Fairley was not deterred. When given the choice to move forward or shut things down, John said, “I decided, with hope in my heart, that our community would be there.” This year, despite the odds, our community came through once again with over $95,000 in donations.
I congratulate all the volunteers and organizers, Hospice and John Fairley, whose mom is smiling down on his tremendous work.