Picton’s Cody-Rae Fowler donated $1,010 to the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation (PECMHF) last week from vendor table fees and raffles from a series of craft sales over the summer in which she hosted.

Fowler, 18, is a first year Practical Nursing Student at Loyalist College and lent her sewing skills to the fight against the spread of the coronavirus early on in the pandemic by making and selling over 1,750 face masks. She donated $3,210 from the mask sales in March of 2020 to PECMHF to help Back the Build for a new hospital.

Fowler loves to sew and operates Scrunchie and Go, an online shop where she designs, sews and sells hair scrunchies and pet accessories among other handmade items. When the gathering restrictions put in place throughout the pandemic began to ease, Fowler organized COVID-safe craft sales in outdoor locations throughout The County. Her scrunchies are now being sold in over 20 stores across Ontario.

“My mom and grandmother work at PECMH so I have a personal connection to the hospital,” Fowler said. “I also felt it was important to keep our current hospital equipped until the new one is built. If you live in Cressy, you’re a 30-minute drive to Picton and then an additional 30 minutes to Belleville if you need a hospital. It’s important to have a good hospital close to home and I want to do what I can to help our hospital in The County be strong. I am also very grateful to all the vendors who enthusiastically supported this idea and to all the people who visited the craft shows and purchased raffle tickets.”

She discovered participating vendors were keen to support the hospital and were happy to donate their table fees to PECMHF to help with the purchase of priority medical equipment needed at QHC PECMH.

“Cody-Rae’s efforts continue to be a labour of love for our hospital and the community,” said Shannon Coull, executive director of the PECMH Foundation. “She’s very passionate about helping people and giving back. She’s also helped so many people throughout the pandemic by making them feel safe whether it is through sewing masks or by hosting events with strict protocols in place. Cody-Rae is a young philanthropist who continues to invest in the future of health care delivery in Prince Edward County and we are so proud of her and her accomplishments.”

As the need for priority equipment never stops, the foundation is appealing to the public to continue giving to help PECMHF raise $374,000 to support equipment purchases at QHC PECMH this year. Some of the equipment the Foundation is fundraising for includes bariatric stretchers, a defibrillator, a portable cardiac monitor and a new ultrasound machine.

For more information or to donate to PECMHF please visit https://pecmhf.ca