Organization Mission Statement
The Campbell River Beacon Club is committed to providing a safe, respectful and welcoming environment in which individuals with mental illnesses are encouraged to maximize their potential and become positive contributors to our community.
The organization serves the following population
Adults ages 19 and older who have a mental illness. This includes schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, eating disorders, anxiety and OCD. Members come from Campbell River and Quadra and Cortes Islands. There are currently 83 members.
The funds donated will be used to
- 2 – 3 Bariatric chairs, specialized seating for obese individuals. Many individuals, including our members, gain significant amounts of weight (100+ lbs) as a side effect of the medication they are on to stabilize their mental illness. We have beautiful seating, however providing chairs that are built for large people improves their comfort and will ensure that the rest of our furniture will last for years to come
- Emergency First Aid and Food Safe courses for the members to improve their capacity to gain meaningful employment. While most members do not have the ability to work fulltime, many are capable of working to supplement their disability pension up to $1000/month ($1200/mth disability pension). Both of these courses will improve their attractiveness to potential employers
- 2 New computers to facilitate online programming. Critical to the stability of our members is non-judgmental connection with others who share a similar journey. With the onset of Covid-19, the Beacon Club is moving to online workshops, presentations and connection. This program allows for people to connect via webcams and mics, the phone or for the program host to call those who are dyslexic, elderly or unable to figure out how to join.
We purchased the add-on program Microsoft Teams in March and while starting slowly with online visits with larger and larger number of participants, and now short story reading, we have developed a full-schedule of programs for May which include meal preparation presentations (x2), effective communication workshops (x4), short story reading, tech talk (to ensure phone and online safety x 2), plus visits, current event discussion and some games.
Unfortunately, 2 of 3 of our staff computers are so old, they cannot support a camera and mic. We were blessed with the donation of a laptop last Christmas which has enabled us to offer these programs.
2 more computers would enable all three staff to be able to host the different workshops, rather than just the Executive Director.
The organizations current sources of funding are
Our programs are funded by Gaming (unfortunately we have been reduced to $14,000 this year, CR Community Foundation, Rotary, Altrusa, fundraising, donations, and member fees. We also get in kind donations of groceries from the food bank. While we are looking for alternative fundraising opportunities, our annual fundraising walk, in which we anticipated a net of $15,000) has been cancelled this year due to Covid- 19.
Wages, rent and utilities are funded by Island Health.
Visit their website for more information: beaconclub.ca
This nomination has been reviewed by the 100 Women Who Care committee and meets all criteria.