The Thunder-Bay Chronicle Journal - August 23, 2009
The Daily Gleaner - August 21, 2009
Kingston Whig-Standard - August 19, 2009
Ottawa Citizen - August 17, 2009
Winnipeg Sun - August 16, 2009
Peterborough Examiner - August 15, 2009
Guelph Mercury - August 14, 2009
Sudbury Star - August 13, 2009
Edmonton Sun - August 13, 2009
By Senator Colin Kenny
Not long ago I visited three soldiers from the Canadian Forces base at Petawawa, who had been wounded in Afghanistan and were on the mend at the Civic Hospital.
One of them had some pretty devastating wounds to the face; the other two were beat up too, but not nearly as badly off. It was distressing to see the pain in these young eyes. I told them if there was any way I could help, to let me know.
A couple of weeks later I got a phone call. One of the soldiers had family in town, from Newfoundland – fish plant workers from one of the few fish plants still in operation there. They has mistakenly thought they had enough funds to visit their son for two weeks after his evacuation from Afghanistan but it turned out they were wrong. These people were living very close to the edge. Could I do anything?
That’s when my staff did some research and told me about the Military Families Fund, administered by the Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services (www.cfpsa.com). We contacted the fund, and it quickly came through with $360 for each of the young man’s parents. That’s not a lot of money to most Canadians, but it was to them.
This fund operates entirely on the donations of ordinary Canadians. So far their contributions run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, from several thousand people like you and me.
The fund is designed to help in little, thoughtful ways. Sometimes it helps when military families – who usually live some distance from the amenities available in big Canadian cities – are unexpectedly hit with adversity. A child suffers severe burns and his mother needs help getting to her when she’s sent off to a big city hospital. Dad’s in Afghanistan, the family car breaks down, and there is just no money to fix it. That kind of thing.
Since General Rick Hillier set it up in 2007 it has come through for more than 250 families. As its website says: “The military life places significant demands on our loved ones. They did not volunteer for service – but serve they do, and with great distinction. It is our turn to be there for our families.”
Amen.
Colin Kenny, Chair, Senate Committee on National Security and Defence.