2014 GoodHearts AGM – Recap

GoodHearts members gathered for the 2014 AGM

Our 2014 GoodHearts AGM was held on Saturday, September 20 at the Varscona Hotel on Whyte Avenue. Thanks to all the GoodHearts members, directors and the 2nd Chance Trial Ride members who were able to join us for the lunch meeting and presentation.

At the meeting our new Board of Directors was elected and introduced to the members.  The board is comprised of returning members Jackie, Jenn, Maggie, Barb, Melanie, Shereen and Josh, along with new member Ed.

Our president, Jackie Foord, chaired the meeting and presented her Annual Report, which highlighted what GoodHearts has been up to in the past year, including a summary of our Transplant Housing and other programs. Some highlights include the following:

• Our members' dinner was held in October of last year.  It was a chance to connect with our members, enjoy each other’s company and share a meal.
   
• $15,500 in food and gas cards have been given to transplant patients through the transplant social workers — a 40 per cent increase over the previous 12-month period.
   
• 32 new members have signed up through the MedicAlert program — that is more than half the current paid membership.
   
• In September we welcomed guests into our 4^th furnished suite at the Galen Lofts. The 3 suites were always booked. The fourth is too. We don’t know how extensive the demand actually is and know that we aren’t likely to raise enough money to meet it, but 4 seems to be a good number. The cost to GoodHearts is $8,425 per month. If they are full every day our revenue is $3,600. That means every month we subsidize the apartments to the tune of $4,825/month or $57,900 a year. We rely on community donations and casinos to ensure we can keep that level of service.  

Members of the 2nd Chance Trail Ride
presenting the GoodHearts with their gift

Jackie also mentioned our special thanks to the following groups:

•  Westcorp, who without we really couldn’t provide the level of service to our guests at the Galen Lofts. They help with move in and move outs and do all the cleaning. They accommodate us to the point where we can move in new guests with about a 48 hour notice. Over the past year, the apartments have been empty less than a week total – that includes both apartments.
   
•  2nd Chance Trail Ride, for their hard work and dedication in planning the annual trail ride, and their donation of $30,000.00 to our group.

5+ years recipients of the "transplant star"

Silvio Dobri handed out commemorative star key chains to our all the transplant recipients at the AGM, celebrating the following milestones:

• 5+ years - Rick Kelly, Tom Matthews, Ed Matwichuk, Patricia Kaliciak and Dean Leipnitz;
• 10+ years - Nancy Manning, Leo Goebel, Denis Gahan, Suresh Avasthi, Sheila Hambrook, Keith Bradley and Jenn Card;
• 15+ years - Silvio Dobri, Roland Ledoux and Brian Carter;
• 20+ years - Kevin Lyver; and
• 25+ years - Dwight Kroening.

Please see our Facebook photo album for pictures of all the recipients.

Finally, the GoodHearts was very fortunate to welcome Dr. Lori West from the Alberta Transplant Institute to our meeting, where she presented on her organization's mission and answered members' questioned regarding organ & tissue transplant issues within Alberta and Canada.