We NEED People Who Want to Make an Impact
“They say the hardest thing in the world is losing a parent. I can now say that isn’t true.
The hardest thing in the world is losing a child...
Someone you raised and watched grow everyday.
Someone you taught how to walk and talk.
Someone you showed how to love.
it’s the worst thing to ever happen to anyone.”
- John Travolta
Have you ever wished that you could do more good in the world? But it feels like you don’t even know where to start?
Or you wish you had more impact on this planet and could permanently change someone’s life for the better?
With every other day seeming like another bad news story from the world, its time to start taking action.
To work together and give the world good news stories back.
Calling ALL CHANGE MAKERS
I'm looking for businesses and people who want to make a CHANGE in this world.
People who want to make a REAL difference in this community around us.
Businesses who want to inspire a POSITIVE change in the people we surround ourselves with.
We NEED people who will not settle for anything less.
If you've been looking for a way to make a positive change in the world around us... but have been struggling to find the answer... then this might be the most important message you will ever read.
You Are About To Discover How You Can Literally
Forever Change Someone's Life For The Better
Here's why:
My name is Christine Vachon. I’m the President of the Soul Sisters Memorial Foundation,
and a Mother who has suffered from the loss of a Daughter by suicide.
In the last 10 years, I have personally helped create a positive change in thousands of people both directly and indirectly, after I lost my daughter Jeanelle to suicide in October of 2013.
And since that time, with the help of our foundation, I have been able to inspire businesses and individuals to create a positive impact and find hope where there was none before.
Before I explain how, let me first tell you that it wasn’t easy. If you’ve ever been personally affected in any way by suicide or know someone who has, I’m sure that you would agree on this:
The first thing you want to do is lock yourself in a dark room and never come out.
But that’s not how we wanted our daughter’s story to end
Now before I get in to it, I want to tell you that I didn’t set out to be a major difference maker in life. I grew up in a small town where big things didn’t tend to happen to us.
My husband and I raised our son and daughter in the small, mostly farming community of Westlock, 45 minutes North of Edmonton Alberta. We started out as a very young family that didn’t set out to be anything more special than to be together.
We were just a regular family that did regular things. Raising our kids together with good values and judgment was always our first priority. As they each grew up and became adults and started their own lives, we were always close by and spoke regularly throughout each week.
October 28, 2013, is the last date mentioned in the book about our daughter’s life.
This book I speak of is the one embedded in my heart and mind that started back in 1982, with the typical fairy tale beginning… ”Once upon a Time...
Jeanelle died by suicide 12 days after her 31st birthday
From that day on, we have been and will continue to be, wondering the reason why. I am
searching through the pages leading up to that last sentence... reading and rereading,
wondering, contemplating, inserting “what ifs” and “how could she”?
Jeanelle was a creative, passionate, outgoing, exuberant person. As a young child, her creativity flowed through her as naturally as her curly hair.
She could light up a room with her beautiful smile and sense of humour. She was also stubborn and could argue a blue streak; which enhanced her passion for what she believed in.
Jeanelle did not follow current events, she never cared who the Prime Minister of Canada was, what was going on in Iran, or how much the price of oil was. Her focus was her 2 sons, Blair and Vincent.
She was a fantastic mother who taught her kids about giving, kindness, being appreciative, and living in the moment.
This is the piece of the puzzle that will be missing forever
If you truly love your kids; how in the world do you choose death over love?
In my head I hear her tell me that her children would be better off without her as she struggled with her own pain.
Jeanelle was never formally diagnosed with a mental illness. Growing up, she suffered migraine headaches from about the age of 8 and as she got older the migraines lasted longer and became more frequent.
After looking back on her behaviour and lots of research; Bi Polar Disorder seemed to be our enemy.
Jeanelle could paint and decorate a complete café in one evening, but then be flat out in bed for 2-3 days straight. Manic episodes were what she was experiencing.
I realized after she passed away that she couldn’t seem to find peace or happiness for long periods of time. They would buy a new house, paint it, redecorate and then sell it to buy another as her project was finished. Over the years she had a number of different vehicles, career paths, friends, hobbies, that seemed to shift and change whenever her mental state changed.
Soul Sisters Memorial Foundation began when our family lost a beautiful soul to suicide.
Our family had no idea about mental illness and had never been impacted by suicide.
After this devastating loss, while looking for any kind of answer, we realized how uneducated we were about mental illness and how many people on this planet are affected by it.
The signs were all there and we didn’t know how to see them. What’s even more important is that we found out through our grieving process that many people don’t know what to watch for.
People don’t know where to go to find the answers to the questions that SO MANY people have left unanswered.
With the loss of our daughter, my husband and I were left with 2 choices
We could either shut down, close our door and hang our heads in sorrow...
Or...
We could hold our heads high and find a way to help others before they go through the
pain that we did.
We made the decision to share our story with the world and help others.
I get up in the morning and am reminded the minute my feet hit the floor: I can no longer pick up the phone and hear my daughters voice telling me about her day.
About a week after Jeanelle passed away, we had heard the words “We could choose to exist or We could choose to live.”
That statement resonated.
We are choosing to LIVE and this has been something I believe in and repeat to myself each day.
From that moment on, everything in life had changed
Soul Sisters Memorial Foundation was officially started by my sisters and I, in February of 2014.
It started as nothing but an idea that I first discussed with my husband after months of grieving over the loss of Jeanelle. We didn’t have any prior experience or education about mental illness. Coming from a small community based around strong values, I wanted to do anything I could to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
Since that time, our mission has been to create more awareness and education in suicide prevention and mental health programs. We are fully committed to providing resources of help and hope, in order to guide others through dark times.
The goal is to help people find new strengths in themselves and get through their troubled journey, in order to go on to be positive contributions to their community. We are helping create an educated world on what signs to look for when you know someone who is struggling, in order to hopefully help prevent anyone from having to feel the pain that we have.
Since creating this foundation, we have provided free seminars and courses in order to directly assist our local area and the communities around us.
For 7 years we have held free workshops and courses about self worth, mental illness and wellness and suicide prevention
Every month our attendance gets a little bigger and our circle of resources continues to grow. I have had a number of people contact me personally asking if I could reach out to someone they know who lost someone to suicide.
It is a tragic first meeting, but we share a common thread and it is that thread that keeps me moving forward with a purpose.
The key factors in erasing the stigma around suicide and mental illness are educating our general population, starting with our youth. We need to be able to communicate with each other and not be afraid to ask someone if they are suffering or need help.
You could be the only person one day that was brave enough to ask another if they are in distress and that is a huge step.
The foundation works to bring in courses and facilitators that provide positive value.
We have held courses and workshops in the community based around some of the following topics with amazing presenters:
- Self Worth The Missing Link: Presented by Laurie Davis
- Mental Health First Aid: Presented by Tracy Zimmer with Alberta Health Services
- 10 Ways to Build Confident Children: Presented by Laurie Davis
- SAFE Talk Suicide Intervention Training: Presented by Calgary Centre for Suicide Prevention
Based on people’s messages, I know that we are making a difference.
THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND MAKING CHANGE
The success of the Soul Sisters Memorial Foundation lies entirely in it’s supporters. There is no way that we would be able to do any of this without the help of people who want to make the world a better place and won’t accept anything less.
We have been moved by everyone who has come across our mission and helped in joining our movement. We have had people take our message with them across the world and support our mission in ways that seemed impossible when we first suffered from this loss.
We have seen ordinary people like us, transform in to something truly extraordinary.
By joining us in our workshops, courses and annual fundraiser and becoming contributing members through sponsorships to support us in this vision, the success in this foundation belongs to everyone who gets involved.
Nelly’s Project is Bigger Than Just Us
In order to carry on this vision of providing free courses and workshops, we created Nelly’s Project.
So far we have held 7 annual fundraisers named after Jeanelle and we named it Nelly’s Project.
Our once a year event consists of a live and silent auction of donated items, a fully catered meal and musical performances throughout the evening.
None of which could exist without you, our sponsors and supporters.
More importantly, our once a year event is filled with people coming together to share stories, smiles, hugs and hope.
In this journey we have raised over $1.3 million dollars and in order to accomplish this amazing feat we have been blessed with great supporters.
The Soul Sisters Memorial Foundation first started with our own family and has continued to grow with more and more families taking part in our courses and events. We have been able to achieve great things thanks to the people and businesses that share a same vision.
Change Makers that know we can all work together to create a massive shift and give the world more “Good News” stories...
Nelly’s Project allows us to continue to give back to the communities around us and affect positive change in people’s lives forever. The responses that we receive after our night of bringing people together are truly something miraculous.
People who have attended and contributed to Nelly’s Project have been touched with a different sense of purpose...
A greater sense of hope...
A stronger knowing that we can all make an impact.
The Power of Changing Lives
In 7 annual fundraisers, we have been able to give a total of $354,000 to Westlock Victim Services, Edmonton Pilgrims Hospice and the Robb Nash Project who is currently travelling across our Country to speak to kids of all ages in schools across Canada.
After the first “Nelly’s Project” fundraiser, we were able to donate $102,810 because of the contributions from our supporters. The Pilgrim’s Hospice of Edmonton holds summer camp programs for kids who have suffered from loss. We were able to send 102 children whom we had never met, but will be able to get the help needed from loss, by contributing to this cause.
We were also able to donate $60,000 to Westlock Victim Services from the first annual fundraiser to a cause that helped us tremendously when we were going through the loss of Jeanelle.
For the second annual fundraiser, we were able to donate $70,000 to the Robb Nash Project who currently travels solely across Canada and affects thousands of kids lives with his empowering presentation. Robb has collected hundreds of suicide notes and razor blades after he is done speaking to the kids in our communities as a result of his strong message. Our donation to the Robb Nash Foundation allowed Robb to take his message on to 14 more schools, where he was able to change the lives of almost 5600 more kids.
Despite the economic times of 2015, and although we weren’t able to raise as many funds, we still created a tremendous impact.
And we won’t stop there...
Here’s How You Can Help Forever Change Someone’s Life
We recently held “Nelly’s Project 7” on September 23, 2023
Over the next year we will be working harder than ever to bring everything together and make this the best one yet.
That’s the goal...
To get better with each day.
With each course, workshop and fundraiser, we work to make it better than the last.
To make a more meaningful outcome with every project that we do...
To empower people to have the ability to save someone’s life...
We are about to open up the opportunity once again this year to join us in this mission through our sponsorship packages.
Where ordinary people like us, join us in becoming extraordinary for someone else.
We have created 3 packages where you can join in and become a part of this mission and help us change the world around us for the better.
Soul Sisters Memorial Foundation is a Non-Profit Organization registered under the Societies Act. Because of the nature of the Registered Societies Act we are not able to provide a tax receipt.
Contributions and gifts to Nelly’s Project are not tax deductible.
By donating, I agree that: This contribution is made from my own funds, and funds are not being provided to me by another person or entity for the purpose of making this contribution.
A Package of Help $2500
A Package of Help is the first level of sponsorship.
When you donate a Package of Help here is what you get:
• Name Recognition in our printed program for the night event. Every attendee receives a
program and your name or your company name will be inside.
• Name Recognition on banners and signage at the event. We recognize our sponsors and
make sure your name is displayed on our sponsor walls at the event.
• Company Logo included on our social media site.
• Name recognition on media packages ($500 Value)
A Package of Love $5000
A Package of Love is the next level of sponsorship.
When you donate a Package of Love here is what you get:
• Name Recognition in our printed program for the night event. Every attendee receives a
program and your name or your company name will be inside.
• Name Recognition on banners and signage at the event. We recognize our sponsors and
make sure your name is displayed on our sponsor walls at the event.
• Company Logo included on our social media site.
• Name mentioned throughout the evening of Nelly’s Project by MC Danny Hooper.
• Name mentioned in newspaper ads ($1000 Value)
A Package of Hope $10,000
A Package of Hope is our biggest level of sponsorship and has been very popular for people
and businesses wanting to make the greatest impact.
When you donate a Package of Hope here is what you get:
• Name Recognition in our printed program for the night event. Every attendee receives a
program and your name or your company name will be inside.
• Name Recognition on banners and signage at the event. We recognize our sponsors and
make sure your name is displayed on our sponsor walls at the event.
• Company Logo included on our social media site.
• Name mentioned throughout the evening of Nelly’s Project by MC Danny Hooper.
• Name mentioned in newspaper ads
• Name mentioned in radio ads
• VIP Seating at Nelly’s Project
• Complimentary wine for the evening ($2500 Value)
I never wanted my daughters story to end this way….
I imagined her growing old with her boys.
I envisioned them living in a beautiful home that she designed and decorated and perhaps having her own gallery so she could showcase all of her beautiful artwork.
I enjoy the beautiful sunrises and sunsets on my way home from spending the day with her boys; my heart tells me she is in charge of those painted skies.
Nelly’s Project will be her legacy and our foundation’s work will never stop in order to help those around us to prevent another tragedy.
Our organization exists through the hard work of many contributors, volunteers and supporters.
In order to make this event another success, I am asking you for your support.
Please consider being a sponsor and join us in our mission to save lives.
The funds raised from this event will be used to continue to educate our community and surrounding areas on mental health issues and suicide prevention.
Together with our contributors and sponsors, we have personally affected the lives of thousands of people in Alberta and across Canada.
With your help, we can ensure that people are aware that this tragedy can be prevented. And you CAN BE the POSITIVE CHANGE you want in this world.
The Souls Sisters Memorial Foundation has become a driving force in this positive change.
And we won’t stop...
We can’t stop.
And we’re gonna need your help...
We are grateful. Thank you.
Soul Sisters xo
To Donate by Cheque to the Soul Sisters Memorial Foundation:
Please make cheques payable to:
Soul Sisters Memorial Foundation
If you have any questions please contact
Christine Vachon
(780) 349-1178
Box 6135
Westlock, AB
T7P-2P7
soulsistersmemorial@gmail.com
www.soulsistersmemorialfoundation.com
