ST. PETER’S: Sales of a popular t-shirt have resulted in the donation of technology to facilities and groups in the Strait area.
About a month ago, Wendy Owens Abbott performed on the Facebook group “Ultimate Online Nova Scotia Kitchen Party [COVID19 Edition],” and made t-shirts for the occasion, one of which said “Stay the Blazes Home,” a quote from Premier Stephen McNeil imploring Nova Scotians to continue self-isolating as the pandemic swept through the province.
“Once I posted the song with ‘Stay the Blazes Home,’ everybody was asking where I got the t-shirt so I thought it would be a great idea to raise some money for the Richmond Villa here in St. Peter’s for iPads,” Owens Abbot recalled. “Once I posted that, the orders started rolling in.
“I don’t know if there’s anyone out there who doesn’t have a t-shirt.”
Colin MacDougall at Joe Pop’s Images helped with the t-shirts – then some residents, who Owens Abbott said do not want to be identified – stepped forward to donate iPads.
“They said they would buy an iPad for every iPad that I bought, up to five iPads,” Owens Abbott noted. “In the same sentence, [one of the donors] said, ‘you know what, they need them, just buy them and I’ll pay you for them.’ So then, two more people after that donated iPads and I had enough money for three iPads, that’s 10 iPads right away. Then a woman called and offered to donate an AppleTV that residents, who couldn’t see very well on the iPad could see their loved ones on the size of a TV screen.
“I just got a phone call last night,” Owens Abbott said on May 7. “A gentlemen said the same thing as that first group, ‘just order four or five iPads and I’ll pay for them.’ So now we have 15 iPads going out to the community which is great.”
With the iPads in hand, Owens Abbott sent donations to the Richmond Villa, St. Ann Community and Nursing Care Centre, the Port Hawkesbury Nursing Home, the Strait-Richmond Hospital, palliative care, and home care.
St. Ann Community and Nursing Care Centre administrator Annette Fougere took to Facebook last week to praise the donations they’ve received.
“It’s so important that the residents can stay connected to their loved ones,” Fougere told The Reporter. “It gives them comfort that things are going well for them.”
In addition to Owens Abbott, Fougere said the facility has received iPads from the “Garbage Night Sessions” in Sydney, the St. Anne Centre and Community Nursing Care Centre ladies auxiliary, and the Department of Health and Wellness.
“We do Skyping, or FaceTiming, or Messenger Video at least three to four times a day, or more,” the administrator noted. “I think families appreciate seeing their loved ones in real time, because people change over time and it’s going on eight or nine weeks that they have not been able to come in, and so they like to keep tabs how they’re doing mentally, physically, and all that.”
Looking back at how the proceeds from t-shirt sales resulted in the donation of much needed equipment, Owens Abbott said it is so important to keep people connected during this time.
“I never thought it would get this big, but I’m glad it did, really,” Owens Abbott told The Reporter. “In the middle of COVID, I had my first grandson born so I haven’t been able to touch him yet either so I know what it’s like to be through a window or from a distance trying to communication with someone.”
Owens Abbott said she is taking more orders for her t-shirts, with plans to continue dispersing iPads to as many facilities and people in need as possible. Those who want a t-shirt can call her at 902-631-0842.
“There could be a couple of iPads on each wing so that nobody is waiting for an iPad to say hello to someone,” she added.