Charity
Objectives & Goals
Helping Others
Raise Funds - Charitable Donations
Raise $10 million USD in charitable donations over four years for the benefit of our health community members to improve their direct wellbeing in very practical ways where they are in tremendous need in Canada, United States of America, and the United Kingdom.
Nurse Scholarships
We pay for scholarships and education expenses for nurses pursuing stoma nurse specialization training & certification. These nurses then elevate to become Nurse Practitioners working with our identified communities. There is a shortage of Ostomy Nurses in many jurisdictions in the USA, Canada and UK.
To Normalize
We normalize, for our fellow health community members with a form of ostomy, that physical participation, belief and confidence in one’s body is realistic. This is not trivial as it cuts to the root of our self-identity, happiness, contentment, and our relations with others.
To Inspire
We inspire fellow health community members who are currently migrating through pain and lives decimated & dismembered by the negative, cascading effects associated with having an ostomy, a stoma, intestinal bowel disease and cancer.
Youth Camp Fees
We pay for youth camp fees & related transportation costs. This is an opportunity for children and teenagers to share time together during the summer months at camps with their peers who share their body identifiers of ostomy, cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.
Personal Training Certification & Fees
To pay for highly specialized, individualized personal training needs of Ostomates, post-surgery. And to pay for personal trainers to be educated and certified in training ostomates back to health.
To Educate - Start Conversations
To educate the public. Often, when we mention to someone that we have an Ostomy or have Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis we are met with a blank stare. We want to start conversations with people throughout global society. We want everyone, everywhere to come to understand what an Ostomy is, what it does, why some people need one. We want the general public to develop a basic understanding of what inflammatory bowel disease is, including its main variants which are Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.
Bring Belief
We bring belief to our fellow health community members many of whom are currently suffering through horrific illness – a place where each of The Ostomy Athletes has been themselves at one time or another. And yet, despite these years of serious disease and successive intestinal operations you can all witness and follow along as we attempt to ascend many of the world’s tallest mountain peaks and to ski to the North & South Poles thereby completing the Explorer’s Grand Slam. We hope to inspire everyone along their own personal journey of suffering and to never stop believing that they have brighter days ahead.
Psychological & Emotional Healthcare
We pay for psychological and emotional healthcare fees for those unable to afford it.
The Ostomy Athlete Direct Assistance Program
We directly assist, financially, individuals experiencing Ostomy, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Cancer. Often these are individuals in need of medical supplies and appliances, emotional and psychological support, dental work, fitness rehabilitation, medication, and other high needs areas of their lives.
Many people fall through the cracks and have no government coverage or private employer coverage and insufficient help from friends and family. All too often, we must choose between rent or medicine or food. We cannot financially afford all three all of the time during our worst illness years.
We touch lives directly by improving healthcare outcomes and quality of life.