Their Legacy Includes Us

My Red Cross Journey:
A Legacy of Caring

My connections to the Red Cross began early in life.

As a young child, I vividly remember driving from our home in Sudbury to Toronto, Ontario the morning after Hurricane Hazel hit. As we passed through this devastated area, I saw the Red Cross helping people, and in this moment, I witnessed the power of compassion in action. That same spirit of caring followed me home, where I would spend hours playing nurse. I’d carefully line up my dolls and teddy bears to administer first aid wearing a makeshift nurse's cap my mother had fashioned from toilet paper.

When I was 14, I joined my high school’s Red Cross Club to make friends in a new town. A year and a half later, I was President.

The Values that Guide my Charitable Giving

Eventually I became a nurse, fulfilling my childhood dream. Caring for others is something I’ve always wanted to do, and it is something I still do to this day, even though I’m now retired. Nursing has always been my raison d’être.

Throughout my life, I’ve tried to embody the spirit of compassion and service. I’ve volunteered at food banks and homeless shelters, and run support groups for bereaved families. I believe it’s a human need to be respected and treated kindly. I’ve always said, “We’re all flowers in God’s garden, after all.”

Why I Chose A Legacy Gift to the Canadian Red Cross

When it came time to update my Will again after my husband died, I knew 
I wanted to include the Canadian Red Cross. I already give to the Canadian Red Cross monthly because they work around the world. I don’t want this 
to stop once I’m gone. My gift means that I can continue to help people in desperate situations.

My vision for the future is one of peace and kindness. I hope my legacy 
gift will inspire others to think beyond themselves. Don’t be afraid to do it. I often say,

Just think if you were down and out. Who do you think would come to your aid? That’s the Red Cross.

Through the gift in my Will, I know that my lifetime of caring will extend far into the future. I will touch the lives of people I’ll never meet. This is a thought that brings me comfort, knowing that I can continue to make a difference even after I’m gone.

Photo: Rod White

My Red Cross Story:
A Life of Service and Compassion

I’ve had a good life, and a great career. I’ve always believed in giving back to society. That’s why I’ve included a gift in my Will to the Canadian Red Cross. Because I want my legacy to bring good and comfort to those in need.

Growing up in Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, I learned the value of hard work and community. Life wasn’t always easy—my mother died when I was just 12—but that experience taught me the importance of helping others through difficult times.

From Railways to the Canadian Red Cross

For 44 years, I worked on Via Rail passenger trains, meeting new people every day. It was more than a job—it was a calling. I saw Canada’s vast landscape and diverse communities, and I realized how fortunate I was. Anytime I heard about a big disaster somewhere in the world, I’d think to myself that I was so lucky not to be part of it. How terrible it must be for all of those who were suffering.

That’s why I started donating to the Canadian Red Cross.

Every time I heard about the work—rescuing people, reuniting families, rebuilding communities—I felt a sense of relief and admiration. They were there, wherever and whenever tragedy struck, bringing hope and help. You can trust the Red Cross. And you certainly don’t hear about other organizations doing as much as the Red Cross does.

I get a lot of satisfaction from giving to the Red Cross, knowing my gift will help as many people as it possibly can.

Creating a Legacy of Hope with a Legacy Gift

I didn’t raise any children of my own and now all of my family is gone. I don’t want my hard-earned money to go to waste. When I was working, I told myself that I was working for my charities. That’s because I was aware that most of the money I was going to leave behind would eventually go to the causes I care deeply about.

By leaving a gift in my Will to the Red Cross, I’m ensuring that help will always be there for those who need it most.

It’s about extending your values and compassion into the future. Whether it’s responding to natural disasters, health crises, or conflicts, the Canadian Red Cross will be there, thanks in part to people like you and me. All I had to do was call up the notary and direct them to make a charitable bequest.

I invite you to join me in leaving a legacy of hope. Together, we can ensure that wherever there’s suffering in the world, help will always be coming.

Photo: CRC

My Red Cross Connection:
The Circle of Community

Growing up on a farm in rural Saskatchewan, I learned the value of hard work at an early age. The youngest of four children in a small tight-knit community of less than 500 people, I saw firsthand the importance of forging your own path and standing up for what you believe and for others.

With the support of dedicated teachers and supportive family, I turned out to be an excellent student and high school built a solid foundation for my future and expanded my horizons. Doing well in school opened doors for me and I ended up being the first in my family to attend university.

Over the years, there have been many mentors in my life who ultimately have helped to shape who I am through their influence on my values and life choices - particularly the importance of caring for fellow human beings and animals. Coupled with bursaries that made a post-secondary education possible, the trajectory of my life was enhanced.

Paying It Forward with a Legacy Gift

In September 2017, I had the unique opportunity to work for the Canadian Red Cross for a full year. Working side by side with incredibly dedicated, passionate and caring fellow employees, this was the first workplace where I truly felt like I belonged. The people I worked with shared my values of caring for humanity, and I got to see this in action over and over again.

As a notable example, during the Fort McMurray fires, I witnessed the incredible impact of our work—not just for people, but also through coordinated partnerships to save their community’s beloved pets too.

Seeing my colleagues’ unwavering dedication to helping others in their darkest hours stirred something deep within me. I wanted to ensure that the same kind of lifelines that had been extended to me, in the form of mentorship and bursaries, would also be extended to future generations when disaster strikes. That’s why I decided to include the Canadian Red Cross in my Will.

The process was simpler, and more meaningful, than I expected. When I was told that even a small percentage of my estate could make a huge difference to the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross in the future, I knew I wanted to give in this highly personalized way. My gift isn’t just about responding to emergencies—it’s about fostering hope, resilience, and humanity in a world that desperately needs it.

Why You Should Think About a Gift in Your Will

To anyone considering making a gift in their Will, I’d say: imagine the legacy you want to leave behind. For me, it’s knowing that long after I’m gone, the Red Cross will still be there, ready to help at a moment’s notice. It’s about creating a future where compassion knows no bounds.

By including the Red Cross in my Will, I’m not just leaving a gift—I’m making a promise that help will always be on the way.

My Red Cross Story:
Working Behind the Scenes

I grew up learning to adapt. My father managed hotels across southern Ontario, which meant we moved—a lot. New schools, new neighbours, new starts. It was hard but it taught me something I’ve carried with me — to be adaptable and flexible. 

The Night That Changed Everything

It was Christmas Eve, 1983. My father had died six months earlier, and I didn’t feel like celebrating. So, I took a shift at the Woodstock YWCA instead.

Then a massive snowstorm hit, closing highway 401. Police started bringing in stranded travellers, and they just kept coming. By the end of the night, more than 150 people filled our building.

The Red Cross arrived, helping people move from YWCA to billeted locations. The local grocery store brought food while local families opened their homes. Strangers cooked turkeys together, laid gym mats on the floor, shared stories. The mayor stopped by to check in. Someone brought their dog. We found room for everyone.

By morning, only six people remained. We sat down together and had Christmas dinner.

I told my husband Wayne that night: it was the best Christmas I’d ever had. A few months later, someone who’d helped coordinate the response asked if I’d like to join the Red Cross board. I said yes and ended up volunteering for nearly 20 years.

The Work That Matters Most

The Red Cross’s values kept me engaged in this work—and the way these values are lived quietly, without needing applause.

I focused on international services, rising from branch to regional to zone council for Ontario. I drove two hours after work for evening meetings, then turned around and did it again the next week. My husband never complained. He saw what the work meant to me, and he supported it.

What moved me most was learning what the Red Cross does in conflict and disaster zones, often at great personal risk, without seeking recognition. Each year, dozens of personnel can lose their lives in the field. They show up anyway. They stay. They work behind the scenes so that others can be seen.

A Gift That Carries It Forward

Wayne and I don’t have children. When we updated our Wills, the decision was easy. Given its meaning in my life, we’ve decided that a portion of whatever is left will go to the Canadian Red Cross.

I’m not wealthy, but I believe in what the Red Cross does. And I want part of me to keep doing this work long after I can’t.

It’s satisfying, so deeply satisfying, to know that I can make a donation that will be used for good. That help will still come to people who need it most, in places the cameras don’t always reach, delivered by people who don’t need the credit.

What moved me most is how the Red Cross works quietly behind the scenes in war zones and disasters, not seeking recognition. They’re often first to arrive and last to leave.

My Red Cross Story:
She Was a Force of Nature

My Aunt Mima was a force of nature. She was fearless and clear seeing. She knew what was needed in any situation and just did it.

When I was 20, had just finished university and was adrift as to my next move, she drove to my apartment and pulled the covers off my bed. She insisted I go down to the social work department to put my name on their list that day. By the end of that week, I had a job working in a residential home for older people with dementia and had found my calling.

Aunt Mima had been shaping my life since I was three years old.

The Woman Who Shaped Everything

When my mother died suddenly, leaving my father with four young children, Aunt Mima retired early from the Red Cross to help raise us. For six years, my Aunt Mima and my Aunt May took two-week rotations—cooking, managing the household, raising four kids who didn’t fully understand what was happening. It was an extraordinary act of selflessness from women already in their sixties.

As it turned out, Aunt Mima and I formed a special bond. I would spend time at her home which was unlike anywhere I’d ever been. Her rooms were filled with artifacts from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia—each one with a story behind it.

She was a private person, not given to talking about herself. But with me, she would open up. We’d spend hours together, me asking questions, her telling stories of places and people and crises I could barely imagine.

She had joined the Red Cross in 1943, days after learning her husband had been killed in Sicily. He was the love of her life. They had married in December 1939, three months after war was declared, and he never came home.

Rather than be broken by that, she channelled her grief into 24 years of service across the world: Italy, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. Her role was often to help transition British Red Cross Societies to newly independent nations in places that were troubled, dangerous, and difficult. As bullets flew about her head, she refused armed guards, instead trusting the protection of the Red Cross symbol on her jeep.

She was awarded the Member of the British Empire for her service. And she was one of only 25 people in the world to hold the Badge of Honour of the British Red Cross—the highest distinction the organization can bestow. She never talked about it.

What She Passed On to Me

The values Aunt Mima imparted in me are the ones I’ve carried through 40 years in social work: perseverance, openness, honesty, and a refusal to judge people by their circumstances. The Red Cross shares those values. They show up for people at their worst moments—without taking sides, without conditions, without judgment. That’s what my aunt did, and it’s what I’ve always tried to do.

A Gift That Honours Her

Aunt Mima taught me early that death is not something to avoid thinking about. She demystified it. From my teenage years onwards, she shared her Will, walked me through her affairs, and just made it an ordinary part of life. She believed in being clear-eyed about the inevitable, and in making sure your values outlast you.

Including the Canadian Red Cross in my Will was never a question. My gift is a tribute to her. It’s a continuation of everything she believed in—helping people in their greatest need, without judgment, without recognition, without giving up.

Perhaps there is someone special who shaped your values and taught you about helping others. Including a gift in your Will to the Canadian Red Cross could be a meaningful way to honour their memory. 

The Red Cross is there to help people in whatever circumstances they find themselves in. No judgment. No prejudice. They’re there to alleviate suffering—which is exactly what my aunt did her whole life.

Seeds Planted Growing a Legacy
In Memory of Rosalie Tennison, Manitoba

Rosalie Tennison grew up knowing what it meant to start with nothing.

Her father died when she was six, leaving her mother to raise three children alone in rural Manitoba. Poverty followed them when they moved from their small farming community to a larger town. But her mother never once suggested that hardship should limit what Rosalie could dream.

That belief carried Rosalie from a one-room schoolhouse near Bowsman, Manitoba all the way to Carleton University, and eventually to a career as an agricultural journalist and writer. She published her first book in her sixties. She never stopped moving forward.

Finding Her People

Rosalie’s connection to the Red Cross came through her husband Bob, who introduced her to the Tiffany Circle—a community of women committed to making a real difference through their giving.

She arrived feeling out of place. These women seemed accomplished, far removed from the farm girl she still felt herself to be. But she stayed. What she found were ordinary women with extraordinary compassion. No household names, no fanfare, just people who had experienced some good fortune and were quietly using it to better humanity.

It turns out, Rosalie fit right in. She launched The Circular, the Tiffany Circle newsletter, and ran it for seven years. She showed up, contributed, and gave of herself—not for recognition, but because that’s who she was.

A Gift Without a Plaque

Rosalie was refreshingly practical about including a gift in her Will. She had no children of her own, and her nieces and nephew were well-established adults. She saw no reason to hold back resources that could help someone caught in a disaster right now. Someone struggling the way her own family once had.

Rosalie left part of her estate to the Canadian Red Cross. Not for a plaque or a ceremony. What mattered to her was that her gift would reach people at their most vulnerable, and that her good fortune would keep doing good long after she was gone.

Rosalie didn’t consider herself wealthy in any grand sense. She simply felt blessed, and she believed that if you can give, you should. It was the truth she lived by.

Her Legacy Lives On

Rosalie passed away before she could see this story in print. But her generosity, spirit, and compassion remain.

She built a full, generous life from the most modest of beginnings. She found her people in an organization that gets the job done without needing the credit. And she made sure her resources would keep doing what she had always believed in: helping people in their greatest need, without judgment, without fanfare, and without giving up.

Her mother gave her the gift of belief. Through her gift to the Canadian Red Cross, Rosalie passed that belief on.

I don’t take my situation for granted. I feel truly blessed, and I try to share. I do what I can in small ways. It doesn’t have to be big.

Photo: Jo-Anne Douglas