A young man with a big heart has made a difference through Hospice Georgian Triangle.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with William Hammond, 13, a Worsley Elementary School student who spends some of his spare time fundraising for Hospice Georgian Triangle.
Q: Have you always lived in Wasaga Beach?
A: I was born in Toronto and we lived there for two or three years, and then moved here.
Q: What types of things are you interested in?
A: I like swimming, soccer and baseball. I also like Scouting.
Q: You’re a pretty active volunteer, specifically with Hospice Georgian Triangle. What made you want to start volunteering with Hospice Georgian Triangle?
A: My grandma (Christine Hammond) passed away there in July 2016.
She had a really good experience because before, she had been in the hospital. She didn’t like all the machines.
She went to hospice to try to make it feel more like home.
I want everyone to be able to have that experience.
Q: After she passed, did you start doing fundraisers right away? What kind of fundraisers did you do?
A: Yes, pretty much.
I did bottle drives and yard sales.
We would paint light bulbs to make them into Christmas decorations and sell those.
Q: How much have you managed to raise since then?
A: $3,012.
Now, my grandma’s name will go on a bronze plaque on the (tribute) wall (in Campbell House).
I reached that goal in late 2020.
Q: What were some of the challenges of fundraising last year with the pandemic?
A: We haven’t been able to do any of the yard sales.
We’ve had to limit what we sell online so we can stay away from people as much as possible.
Q: How does it make you feel now that you’ve reached this goal?
A: I feel really happy. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished.
Q: You were recently given a Community Leader Award from Simcoe-Grey MP Terry Dowdall, for volunteer excellence. When you found out, how did that make you feel?
A: At first, I was really shocked because I didn’t even know there was anything like that.
Once I got over my shock, I was really happy.
Q: Now that you’ve reached your goal, are you going to continue fundraising for Hospice?
A: Yes.
Q: If people are considering running their own fundraising or volunteering, do you have any advice for them?
A: Do everything you can. If you think it’s too hard, you don’t have to do quite as much, but always do at least a bit.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every Saturday. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
