$25,000 in donated goods headed from Ottawa to northern Manitoba community

A truck loaded with $25,000 worth of donated musical instruments and sports equipment left Ottawa for a northern Manitoba community Tuesday to help people therecope with a suicide crisis.

In March, Pimicikamak Cree Nation, also known as Cross Lake,declared a state of emergency after the deaths of six people by suicidesince December.

In response, a group ofOttawabusiness women who make up theFacebook group Ladies Who Lunchput out thecall for donations. The group's founder,Catherine Landry, launched the #MotherLovehashtagjust three weeks ago, and what hashappened in that time hassurprised even the veteran volunteer coordinator.

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"It's been incredible," said Landry."And what's interesting about this is thediversityof the women involved.Women fromalldifferentbackgrounds.Igota$5donationfromaSyrianrefugee!That'swhat'MotherLove'is."

"Ittranscendsreligion,culture and race."

KellyStewart-Belisle, one of the 13,000 Ottawa-based members of Ladies Who Lunch, says theyasked community leaders in Pimicikamakwhat they needed to help heal the community.

5 kinds of donation sought

"They told us they needed five thingsthings to occupy the youth," said Stewart-Belisle. "They needed sports equipment, theyneeded musical instruments,art materials,they needed messages of love and they needed grief and crisiscounselling."

The response was quick, and as they ran low on storage space,the women began collecting the results of their efforts at a storage facility inKanata.

On Tuesday, theyloaded a transport truck also donated for the cause with all of thecollectedgoods, totalling $20,000 worth of guitars, drums and other musical instruments, and $5,000 in sporting goods, including equipment forfloor hockey and lacrosse, basketballs, and baseball gloves.

In addition, students from 25 Ottawa schools filled 1000 greeting cards with messages of hope and encouragement. Landry's group alsogathered craft and beading supplies.

With help from the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, volunteersput together acollection ofbooks covering topics on grieving, healing, and youth mental illness.

Landry says members of the National Arts Centre Orchestra have committed to travelling to the remote First Nationto give music lessons on the donated instruments in person.

"It's amazing! My heart is bursting,"said Stewart-Belisle. "I wish I could be there to see the looks on their faces. I'm just so pleased with what we have done, the community, Ottawa."

Transportation donated

Moving company Tippet-Richardson offered to ship thedonations to Manitobafree of charge. From Winnipeg, another company, Winnipeg Moving, has offered to take over the 750kmlegnorthwardto the community of Pimicikamak.

Tippet-Richardson employeeSpencer Charestsays he's never filled his truck for charity before."I think it's pretty fantastic, especially in our era of social media," said Charest, as he helped load the donations.

"You can get devastating news like that from across the country and it prompts people to take action. So it's always spectacular to see people come together for a good cause like that."

Brenda Hollingsworth, whoplayed a key role inhelpingto raise money to purchase thesports equipment, callsthe shipment "very, very exciting."

She and other members of Ladies Who Lunch havebeen invited to visit Pimicikamak in the future, according to Hollingsworth.

"We've created a connection with the community we're all Facebook friends, with the youth, the band council, the principal.We're going to stay in touch with this community."