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Community Impact
A story from Sasha Yerkovich, Executive Director, Canopy of Neighbors, as shared at the 30th Annual Maria Love Spring Luncheon.
“Thank you to the Maria Love Fund for giving me the opportunity to bear witness to what you have done for the seniors we serve. Your investment in Canopy of Neighbors enabled us to support low-income seniors who need our help to remain independent and improve their quality of life.”
Many of you may know some of the people who have been members of our organization. Their stories may include rides to the grocery store, to doctor’s appointments or simple friendly home visits, during an illness, meant to lift the spirit. For some women, help from Canopy is part of a lifestyle. But for others, Canopy is a lifesaver.
Inquiries by seniors who qualify for our low-income membership of $120/year are growing quickly. Our members are proud people who need to know they are contributing something in return for our help. We charge them $10/month and these days some have trouble paying even that low fee. These women, whose memberships you subsidized, felt the embrace of Maria’s love in many ways. And while I feel enormous pressure to adequately convey our gratitude, I will try my best.
I would like to think that if Maria Love were alive today, we’d all compete to be her best friend! Who wouldn’t want to bask in her benevolence, her vision, and her desire to ease suffering? We, at Canopy, share her passion for promoting health, wellness, and independence. Our mission is all about lending a hand to people who need it most during times of illness and recovery. Sadly, for many of our seniors, that period of illness and recovery can be never-ending, and we often shepherd them through their final years. I can assure you that the depths of human misery are only increased when those hardships are experienced with little to no family support, insufficient income, or racial intolerance.
To that end, Canopy created a community of caregivers who come together to fill in the gaps of human need when someone requires help. Our loving volunteers come from all parts of the Buffalo community. Be they grad students looking for field hours, retired teachers, neighbors, volunteers often tell me they receive more than they give. They can be found giving rides to routine medical appointments or to chemotherapy treatments. They can be found holding the hand of a frail member during a tragic diagnosis, dropping off homemade food, shopping for ill members, booking vaccine appointments online, and even sitting at hospice bedside.
Your special grant was not an expenditure that helped us procure lift chairs or other medical equipment. It was, instead, a gift that kept on giving to both members and volunteers. It gave people the opportunity to form critical relationships within our community that are crucial in times of need. A sense that you are not alone during hard times can give you the will to carry on. Maria knew there is strength and love in community. And let me tell you how I know this by sharing Ruth’s story.
Ruth was one of the women who benefitted from this grant. She was a long time Canopy member who lived in subsidized housing on an annual income of $18K. For years we drove and accompanied her to vital medical appointments, saw her through surgeries, helped her navigate the tricky world of insurance and prescription costs and enjoyed her company at all our programming events. She was beloved by our volunteers, and she was like family. In fact, it was our board chair that was by her side, along with her niece, when she received her devastating cancer diagnosis at 84 years old. And true to form, she actually scheduled her chemotherapy treatments, so they didn’t conflict with the Canopy social activities she loved.
During her last months, our volunteers took her to her final appointments, read to her when she could no longer see and took turns at her hospice bedside in her apartment until Ruth’s niece returned from work to take over. When Sister Ruth was finally called home, Gayle Eagan, Liz Schreier, and I sat at the First Centennial Missionary Baptist Church alongside Ruth’s church family. It was one of the most moving days of my life. As we began to sing and celebrate Ruth’s life, we were stunned to find that the congregation welcomed us by name, prayed for us and treated us like family. Apparently, Ruth had told them all about us. And now we were the ones who felt a loving embrace in that full circle moment.
And so I thank you again for your support. It’s not easy being a small CBO looking for a way to fund human dignity and the needs of marginalized people. I can only hope this is what Maria Love dreamed of as community and that we do her justice in honoring her vision and her memory. So please bid high today, buy all the centerpieces and donate with your heart because Maria Love knew there were many Ruth’s out there.”