Hello from your NDWCC Campaign Coordinator

Melanie Tetreault

Melanie Tetreault
NDWCC Coordinator
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Right now, your unit ambassador is likely starting conversations with you about donating to the NDWCC and asking if you want to take part in events that celebrate the spirit of the campaign.

I’d like to tell you a story about why it is important to make a meaningful E-Pledge donation.

This is a true story. It involves a military family; a husband (sailor,) wife, and two children. The wife had severe depression and their oldest child had special needs. The relatives of this family lived out of province and could rarely visit. The wife had very few friends. Daycare was too expensive for her to work, so the family survived on only the member’s income. Their marriage was strained and divorce was looming.

The husband was suddenly called away for a lengthy deployment. Once he departed, the wife found herself in a pit of emotional confusion and became even more depressed. Everything seemed hopeless, disorienting, and extremely lonely. The children became hard to manage alone and their home became frightening and overwhelming to her.

Then, one Sunday, her and the children attended a Sunday Session at the Military Family Resource Center. This was a program put on by MFRC Deployment Services to connect families to one another during deployment. There was childcare for the little ones so mom could watch the presentation. She had to leave halfway through the session due to her emotional stress; even then things seemed so sad and unending.

However, in the hallway she was approached by an MFRC social worker who was very empathetic and checked in with her. It was liberating to have someone to talk to about the struggles she was facing. The social worker encouraged her to attend more events and have more conversations. This led to the wife joining a military family Facebook group, using respite child care, getting counselling for depression, and connecting to a community liaison to help find supports for her oldest child.

This experience saved her. The counselling, child care, and community support at the MFRC helped her reconcile her marriage, gain confidence, connect to new lifelong friends, and become a more resilient woman and mother.

She began volunteering with the MFRC after that deployment to help others find the same support. She then began a career journey and connected to the Military Spouse Employment Initiative where she was hired to by the Department of National Defence.

Their children are now experiencing successes where successes may not have been possible. Their journey has not been an easy one but the services and connections of the MFRC made success more of a reality.

Now here I am, Coordinator of your NDWCC! Without the support given each year to organizations such as United Way, HealthPartners, the MFRC and countless other charities of your choice, my story and stories like mine would not be possible. We need you to give so that programs, services, and policy can be developed to help those around us find their success story.

Donate today!

To make a donation or visit https://uwco.ca/GCWCC/donate

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