A Fillmore woman, Jen Wasylkowski, who was named a Global Citizen Award winner by her employer, RBC, in 2019 has donated her prize money of $5,000 to the Fillmore Health Care Centre.
The RBC Global Citizen Award recognizes RBC employees who have proven exceptional commitment to bringing a positive social impact in their communities. Normally, participants who receive the award join other global citizens in Kenya where they take in cultural experiences, help build schools and water resources, and make lifelong connections with people.
The award 鈥渋s an incredibly prestigious award only given to a handful of people. Out of 86,000 RBC employees, about 50 were selected, so to say I was excited is an understatement,鈥� she said. 鈥淎s thrilled as I was to take part in the original reward to serve in Kenya, I understood my best most responsible role during COVID was to stay here in Canada.鈥�
She explained how she came to earn this award, saying, 鈥淢y earned award was due to participating in over 40 鈥榙ays of service鈥� where RBC team members volunteer their own time to attend meaningful volunteer events, as well as having the opportunity to donate much-needed funds towards the organization. It鈥檚 the best of all worlds as we get to donate funds but really get our hands dirty and impact our communities.鈥�
With these thoughts in mind, she made her decision to keep the donation local, and added it was difficult to decide where to give the donation. 鈥淟et me tell you, that was a hard decision as there are so many well-deserving organizations,鈥� Wasylkowski said.
鈥淭his year, we have all made a choice to protect our most vulnerable and do our part to not overload our health system. With that in mind and with great pride, I made the decision to gift the lump sum to the Fillmore Health Centre.
鈥淭hey have always welcomed my son, Avery Wasylkowski, to visit and it became a place close to my heart as well, with many sweet memories and proud moments from painting the windows with Future Launch volunteers to decorating doors for Christmas,鈥� she said, adding the Future Launch program is also very important to her in the community.
鈥淚 am part of a program called Future Launch, where we take young people and guide them towards financial knowledge, networking, skill building and enhancing their mental health. This particular award is incredibly amazing and has been very valuable to the Fillmore RBC team. Clients come in with big proud smiles and we love that,鈥� she said.
In relation to the health care centre, she spoke of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on both the staff and the community, and she wanted to reach out with these funds to help the facility out.
鈥淭he role of family has been taken on by staff who are with your special people every day. They are surely overwhelmed with extra safety precautions to protect the residents and fellow staff members. They have given up vacations, their own family time, and have been divided from their own support system due to different outlooks. The residents are missing their visits from friends and family as well as community members, but are being well taken care of and loved,鈥� she said.
鈥淔amily members are distraught with not being able to do simple things like hug their loved ones but are grateful their precious family members are safe. And the community misses singing, reading, playing games, decorating doors, and taking in a different generation鈥檚 views on the world.鈥�
The donation was a way to pay tribute and say thanks to the staff of the health care facility, she added. 鈥淭hank you to everyone who lives there, works there, supports them and misses them. You have big fans in all of us, we applaud and appreciate all of you,鈥� said Wasylkowski, also giving a 鈥渂ig shout-out鈥� to the Village of Fillmore for helping her make this donation a reality.
