The Niverville Heritage Centre (NHC) held its twelfth annual fundraising gala on Saturday, November 3. The three hundred guests in attendance at the upscale event were treated to a lavish three-course meal and the musings, storytelling, and music of Canadian celebrity Tom Jackson.
“We feel that the gala was a very good success for the community,” says Steve Neufeld, NHC’s Chief Officer for Community and Development. “Funds raised [came to] about $55,000. This surpassed my goal of $50,000.”
Neufeld says that this year’s donations will have a broader focus, contributing to the small things that make a big difference at the centre. These include maintaining the already low rates for residents, hiring additional needed staff and a part-time chaplain, and purchasing equipment that will assist front line staff in completing their tasks more efficiently so they’ll have more time for the residents and with community groups, projects, and volunteer programs.
The evening’s theme focused on honouring the many volunteers who make the campus’s seniors facility a better place to live by helping to ease the burden of loneliness, helplessness, and lack of purpose for those living in the Niverville Credit Union Manor and the Heritage Life Personal Care Home.
Mayor Myron Dyck commenced the program under virtual darkness, reminding attendees that there was a time, before electricity and modern-day conveniences, when travel after dark was difficult and at times treacherous. Because of this, early pioneers would set lanterns in the windows of their homes, providing small beacons throughout a vast, dark prairie. The lanterns represented hope, refuge, and at times a warm meal and bed for a weary traveller.
“The Heritage Centre is a modern version of a light that shines on the prairies in all directions, to let others know that here is a place of hope,” said Dyck. “Here is a haven, a place of hospitality and a place where help is available. A light in the pioneer’s window did not continue to shine on its own. It needed a lightkeeper. Likewise, the light that is the Heritage Centre does not shine out onto our prairie region without someone to keep it lit.”
Dyck praised the many individuals who provide that light every day: the centre’s 300-plus staff members, the health professionals of the Open Health medical clinic, and the many volunteers who selflessly give of their time to improve the lives of others. As he spoke, event staff lit candles on each table, symbolically casting a warm glow throughout the ballroom.
Actor, producer, singer, songwriter, and activist Tom Jackson took to the stage with stories and music that kept the glow alive for the remainder of the night. Jackson is best known for his television roles as Billy Twofeathers on Shining Time Station, Peter Kenidi on North of 60, and his guest appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The singer/songwriter also hosted a Canadian musical production called the Huron Carole for 17 years, a production intended to raise awareness and funds for local foodbanks across the nation. He’s received an extensive list of awards, honours, and decorations over his 40 years in the public eye.
Born to an English father and a Cree mother on a reserve in Saskatchewan, Jackson also spent many of his childhood years growing up in Winnipeg. His rags-to-riches story saw him move from a teenage drug addict living on the streets to the notoriety he knows today.
“Thirty-two years ago, I lived in a hole in the ground in downtown Toronto,” said Jackson. “I was addicted to drugs and I lived in the house of the guy that dealt me drugs. One day, the Creator came to me and he says, ‘I’m going to make you a deal. I’m going to send you an angel that is worse off than you, and here’s the deal: if you help him, I’ll help you.’ And I took the deal.”
Jackson described that moment of self-realization as the tipping point for his change of heart and attitude. He began to move through the streets of his neighbourhood, offering his own warm scarf to a mother with a newborn baby and simple aid to a beggar. Those little acts of kindness, he says, transformed his life in ways he never imagined possible.
“I had to find a way to get more, so, figuratively, I came here.” Jackson motioned to the gathered crowd. “It led me here to you. You see, I need to survive, I need to breathe, and this is my oxygen. So you never know the value of the gift. The gift is in the giving… All you have to do is think these thoughts and they become real. Think of love, think of caring. If you take care of the elders and love the little ones, the rest will take care of itself.”
Jackson’s wit also took centre stage as he regaled the audience with stories of his brother Bernie. He told of Halloween nights where the two would visit homes, calling “Trick or treaty,” and Bernie’s rendition of the national anthem: “Oh Canada, your home’s on native land.”
While he’s openly proud of his Indigenous heritage, Jackson is as proud of the diversity in culture and language that is his home nation.
“We’re fiercely independent until something goes wrong,” Jackson said. “I work with the Red Cross and I can tell you that when there’s a problem or a disaster… all the colour goes away. That’s the kind of country we live in.”
Truth and reconciliation, he says, is something each one of us can own. The truth is in recognizing history for what it is. The reconciliation plays out in our response to the needs of everyone around us, regardless of culture or background.
“When we collaborate and we come out of the room, we’re not perfect,” says Jackson. “But you know what we are? We’re better. You don’t have to be perfect, but you have to work on being better. We’re fiercely independent but we can collaborate.”
He compares those places where collaboration takes place as akin to standing on holy ground.
“When you get on holy ground, something special happens. And you have it here. The question comes up about the lantern. Do you have a lantern in your window? It’s a question worth answering… You don’t have to be the lantern; you can be the light. There’s a difference between being a lantern and being a light. Words are very powerful things. Love, in particular, is a great word, but it’s a better verb.”
While the event provided a shoutout to the many volunteers who already commit time and energy to making lives better, the NHC continues to seek more volunteers in a variety of ways, including senior visitation, meal preparation, transportation, art and pet therapy, yard maintenance, music and entertainment, bingo callers, special event assistance, palliative care, telephone support, and housekeeping.
