The Ground Breakers Award
Hopewell Founders:
Anne Murray Joanne Curran, Anne Murray, Shelley Shusterman and Lucyna Neville
In 1999, three incredibly driven, strong, and community-minded mothers formed Hopewell Eating Disorder Support Centre of Ottawa to provide individuals with public education programs, a resource and referral centre, and to help fill the gaps in community services for teens, adults, and their families coping with eating disorders. Joanne Curran, Lucyna Neville and Shelley Shusterman, and their families, demonstrate the power of collaboration, kindness, and action to build a more supportive community.
It is our pleasure to honour them with Hopewell’s first Ground Breakers Award
“I am immensely proud of the mark Hopewell continues to make, after 20 some years, on Ottawa’s mental health community. This organization has extended its reach well beyond what one would expect from a small not for profit. Its success with reaching out to a vulnerable, often underserved, population and offering affordable and timely peer support to those in need, rests squarely on the shoulders of a group of committed, creative, forward thinking volunteers and staff. All good reasons to continue to donate to Hopewell!”
“The driving force behind my continued involvement with Hopewell is the deepest desire to help those who suffer because of an eating disorders, be it parents, siblings or individuals. Seeing firsthand how devastated the lives of those affected are, it is very important for me to help ensure that there is help available in our community where this illness is still secretive, misunderstood and not recognized as the deadliest of all mental health diseases.”
Hopewell’s first fundraiser in December 2000 included Anne Murray. Pictured from left are our founders Joanne Curran, (Anne Murray), Shelley Shusterman and Lucyna Neville. The need for Hopewell’s services is apparent in the letters of thanks and appreciation we receive from our clients.