Caring is this family’s business
Published: July 2, 2007
They are noted Brockville philanthropists, having contributed to many causes, including Chernobyl relief efforts, amateur sport, orphanages and hospitals, and now they are the first Canadians to create a “village” that will house, nurture and educate southern African orphans.
Donald and Shirley Green donated $2 million yesterday to SOS Children’s Villages Canada, a charity that provides long-term care and social services to more than 700,000 orphaned and abandoned children in 132 countries worldwide. Mr. and Mrs. Green are the first Canadians to contribute to the charity on this scale, creating a community for needy children of the Ondangwa region of Namibia, where they will be raised in a family environment with social supports close by.
Michael von Herff, president of the board of SOS Children’s Villages Canada, called the donation “a breathtaking gift.”
The money will finance the construction and furnishing of 19 buildings, including 12 family homes where 120 children will be cared for by members of the charity known as “SOS Mothers.” Kindergarten classes will also be created, along with a facility that will house a community outreach program.
“It’s hard to imagine what it’s like for a child to grow up without a family,” said Mr. Green, an entrepreneur and businessman, in an emotional statement. “These children are suffering. This new village will allow these children to have a home and a newfound family.
“Shirley and I are so honoured to be able to do this.”
Photographs of the planned village, to be named after the Green family, show suburban-style rows of neat brick houses lining serene streets with bright green lawns. Nearby, there will be kindergarten classrooms with a playground and a community centre that offers health services, life skills, HIV/AIDS education and other services. Construction is scheduled to begin in July and is expected to be completed by late spring 2008.
The Greens became involved with the charity through their daughter, Debbie O’Brien, who is also a prominent Ottawa fundraiser.
“It’s a good fit for what our main mission is,” said Ms. O’Brien of the project. She is director of the Don and Shirley Green Family Foundation. “We know this village will be completed a year from now. And those children will be helped very quickly.”
Ms. O’Brien has seen firsthand her parents’ extensive philanthropic efforts over the years, and it has become a family affair.
The Greens have donated $1 million to fund an off-season training facility for Canadian alpine skiers, contributed more than $250,000 to the Chernobyl charity and funded construction of showers and toilets in two orphanages and laundry facilities at a hospital.
They also bought an apartment with running water for a family with a child who has kidney problems. And they paid for a kidney transplant for a young man and emergency surgery for a young woman with a brain tumour.
“We’re very fortunate,” Ms. O’Brien said. “Being a child that grew up in that family, it was instilled upon us as children all along. I think my parents have demonstrated a great Canadian value of giving back to communities and to people who are not as lucky as we are to have been born in this wonderful country.”
Shirley Green, teary-eyed with emotion after the announcement, said it was hard to articulate what it means to her family to contribute to such projects. “It’s so great, so rewarding, it’s hard to put into words,” she said. “It makes us very happy that we’ve been able to help other people and in particular, helping children is one of the things we like doing.
“It’s a real feeling of satisfaction.”
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