A little girl’s childhood dream finally came true on January 21, 2012, when Jeneece Place opened its doors for families travelling to Victoria, B.C. for special medical care for their children.
When Jeneece Edroff was three years old, she was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis, a painful condition that causes tumours to grow on nerve pathways. Despite these unique challenges, Jeneece has built her life around giving and inspiring others. When she was just seven years old, Jeneece raised $164 that she donated to a local telethon. By age 15, she had raised $1.5 million that was donated to help various children’s causes on Vancouver Island.
A few years ago, she set a new goal: to build a home away from home for families travelling to Victoria for medical care for their children. “My dream is to make sure no one has to sleep in a strange place when they come to Victoria for treatment. I want Jeneece Place to be their second home,” said Jeneece.
Recognizing the community need and inspired by Jeneece’s vision, TELUS came forward to help make the dream a reality. TELUS and its team members donated $1.3 million toward this facility. The largest portion of this amount was the result of the TELUS World Skins and a cause marketing campaign that saw TELUS give $100 for every new TELUS TV® customer on Vancouver Island. Additional funds were raised through the Team TELUS Charitable Giving program.
With a total of $6.5 million donated, the Queen Alexandra Foundation for Children was able to do much more than just cover the construction costs of Jeneece Place. They are able to provide comfort and support to children and families well into the future.
Over the next 10 years, it is expected that Jeneece Place will help an estimated 6,000 families in the Victoria area.