2021-09-22

Bricks and mortar cement further gratitude for donors’ support

It may have taken years, but a second wall dedicated to donors in the brick fundraiser for the New Germany & Area Medical Centre is finally complete.

"This brick project was actually one of the initial fundraisers at the medical centre when it started being built back in 1993,'' explains New Germany & Area Medical Centre Association vice-president Nancy Veinot. "It went very well because the community had lost its doctors and felt building a medical centre would bring them back.''

More than 500 bricks were sold at $100 a piece at that time to help pay for the construction, and more have been sold on an ongoing basis since then to help cover maintenance and operating costs.

Veinot describes it as the beginning of finding ways for people to donate to the medical centre, which started being constructed in July and was finished by the end of October. "The spin-off was incredible,'' she recalls. "Some people donated machinery for the entire summer. People gave in so many ways. It was a real community effort.''

Brick sales continued slowly and intermittently over the years until 2018, when the association members became more determined than ever to complete a second donor wall in celebration of the centre's 25th anniversary.

"The project paused for a bit, but sales slowly carried on and the bricks were mortared in as we received them, but we really wanted to complete the wall.''

They managed to sell about two dozen bricks at that time, but another 21 or 22 remained. So, this spring, the committee set a goal that in one month it would finish it off. The remaining bricks were eventually sold at $125 each and, while it wasn't a huge money maker, Veinot says it finally marked the completion of the fundraiser.

"The importance of this is that we have closed off this chapter by finishing the wall. We had some very elderly people purchase bricks and wanted to live to see them mortared in and I understand that.''

People bought the bricks for a variety of reasons. For instance, one brick was purchased as a wedding gift and another sold in Alaska to the relatives of people who lived in New Germany at one time.

Two part-time physicians are currently on staff at the medical centre as well as two nurse practitioners, one full-time and a second who works one day a week.

"We are very fortunate. When you look at larger areas and towns, they have medical clinics that certainly aren't staffed as well as we are.''

The community is highly vested in the centre which was built and continues to be maintained by volunteers. Other successful fundraisers have also been held there over the years, including the Double Grand in Your Hand event, which raised $2,000 for the centre in two weeks.

Monthly donations used to maintain the facility have been seriously impacted by the pandemic as in-person patient visits stopped for the most part and many funerals and memorial services had to be cancelled or postponed. Both were reliable and steady sources of revenue for the centre.

"The monthly donations we receive, and certainly can use to maintain the centre, are down,'' says Veinot.