Helen Ross shines bright on Lansdowne Children’s Centre for child development

Donor’s legacy gift is game-changing for children and youth supported by centre for child development

Hannah, Kate, and Amira enjoy playing together weekly at CARE Friendship Club at Lansdowne Children's Centre for child development. The weekly program is one of several supported by donor gifts, and provides 1:1 support for children with additional needs so that they can play games, try crafts, and meet new people.

BRANTFORD, ON - Helen Ross “was a ray of sunshine.”

While reminiscing about her late aunt, Wendy Nicholls recalled a conversation they had one day, when Helen said she didn’t have any talent.

“She couldn’t crochet or sew, and baking wasn’t her thing,” Nicholls said. “(But) she was very vibrant. … I said, ‘You bring so much life that people just want to be around you, and that is a gift.’”

Helen grew up on a farm in Norfolk County.

“My aunt lived at our house until I was five, and then she went out on her own,” Nicholls said, adding that her aunt had been her godmother. “We were close our whole lives.”

Helen never had any children. She married Ed Ross in 1973 when she was in her early 40s.

He passed away eight years before her.

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“She was a lady on the go,” Nicholls said.

In the days before cell phones, if Nicholls wanted to connect with her aunt, “I would just sit outside her apartment and hope that she would come back at dinnertime. Sometimes I was lucky,” she said with a laugh.

Helen Ross was a vibrant, active and giving community member in Brantford, ON.

When she turned 89, Helen told Nicholls that she wanted to do a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer, a train in British Columbia. They started planning to go in 2020 but had to delay it because of COVID; then in 2022, “Her cancer came back, and she wasn’t able to go.”

While Nicholls couldn’t make that wish happen for her aunt, she made sure to do everything in her power to fulfil another desire dear to Helen’s heart.

When she was doing her end-of-life planning, Helen knew “she wanted to leave the bulk of her estate to charity … to do something positive for the community of Brantford when she passed.”

Helen made sure to communicate her wishes to her executors, as well as set up her legacy gift with her lawyer and banker. One of the nine not-for-profits she chose was Lansdowne Children’s Centre, which received a gift of $35,000.

Nicholls said her aunt chose Lansdowne as a recipient because one of her great grandnieces received support through the centre, and she was impressed with “the particular care that she got there.”

Mike Farrell, who has helped Lansdowne’s foundation as a philanthropy coach on several projects since 2019, said, “Every gift that comes in here, in its own way, is a tribute to the work the staff does. … Yes, it’s about the kids, but the staff are doing their magic. It’s just so profound.”

He added that with bequeathment gifts especially, when someone is entrusting the organization to preserve a piece of their legacy, “These are sacred.”

Recreation programs for children and youth, and Family Engagement services, are programs that rely on the financial support of community gifts and grants in order to maintain and expand operation to better serve thousands of families who access clinical and respite services at Lansdowne Children's Centre.

Helen’s legacy gift– and those from other Lansdowne heroes - will help secure and expand access to critical programs and services accessed by thousands of children and youth in Grand Erie.

“Gifts of this nature are game-changing,” said Farrell. “They are incredibly inspiring for all our team.”

It is with generous gifts from compassionate community members that Lansdowne can extend support for children and families beyond government-funded clinical care.

Through donations, Lansdowne helps children and youth with additional needs connect with supports to attend community-based recreation programs and camps, access resources that enhance their learning and abilities, and attend unique events designed to meet their needs, and the needs of their family.

Rita-Marie Hadley, Executive Director of Lansdowne since 2006, still takes inspiration from the impact she sees each day.

“I can’t even describe the look in the eyes of a parent watching their child experience something that they simply didn’t think was possible,” she said.

“For a child, the effect of these adventures is profound. A sense of accomplishment, excitement and pure joy.”

Even after her passing, Helen continues to shine her light, reflected on the face of every smiling child discovering their potential at Lansdowne.