Each year the Witches’ Gathering uses the money raised from ticket sales to make a donation to a charity or non-profit organization that benefits the local community. This year we have decided to cut out the middleman (so to speak) and use the proceeds of the 2011 Witches’ Gathering to directly benefit a deserving member of Ottawa’s community.
Meet Kaelie Coombe,
a bright and artistic little girl in our community who lives with a difficult form of cystic fibrosis. This condition requires hospital stays each year to clean out her system with IV antibiotics. Each day three hours are spent doing physical therapy, breathing into a ventilator, preparing and cleaning her feeding tube. In order for Kaelie to absorb her food she must take up to 20 pills a day of artificial enzymes with each meal and snack. There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, but new treatments are allowing children to live well into their teens, twenties and sometimes beyond.
Kaelie is parented by a single mother so there is not often room for the little extras. Much time is taken off work for regular trips to CHEO and caring for her when she is ill. Proceeds raised from this years 13th Annual Witches’ Gathering will go to support Kaelie and her mother for the purchase of a massage table and aids to make day to day life a little bit easier.
Last year was a particularly rough winter and school was deemed too risky an activity to continue full time. Kaelie, now 8, has returned to grade 3 this year and is happy to be back with her friends.
About Cystic fibrosis (CF): This is the most common, fatal genetic disease affecting young Canadians. It mostly affects the lungs and digestive system, causing severe breathing problems and restricting the body’s ability to absorb nutrients. For more information on cystic fibrosis please visit Cystic Fibrosis Canada.
Download the PDF version of this description here.
Past Charities
Over the years the Witches’ Gathering has benefited many local charities including:
- The Ottawa Public Library
- The Ottawa Food Bank
- the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
- Wild Bird Care Center in Nepean
- ‘Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa
- The Ottawa Humane Society
- Amethyst Women’s Addiction Centre
- Canadian Blood Services
Do you have a suggestion for a charity that we should support in future years? If so, email us!