Motor neurone disease association volunteer Jennie Lewis is to leave the association after 20 years of hard work and devotion to a charity so close to her heart.
Mavis Summerfield was 1 of life’s treasures. A devoted wife, mother and grandmother, she was always willing to help others. During 2001 she experienced a number of health problems and in February 2002, following numerous tests, her family received the devastating news that Mavis had Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Within less than a month Mavis had sadly passed away.
Her 2 youngest daughters, Jennie Lewis and Doreen Gant having since moved to the IOW with their father, tried for his sake to move forward, but sadly he didn’t last long without his beloved wife and he passed away in August 2003. The girls had started to ‘dabble in antiques’ and were happy to have a stall at the Earl Mountbatten Hospice (as it was then called) event in 2002 taking place at Barton Manor.
Over the next 20 years, Jennie and Doreen arranged numerous fundraising events such as a sponsored silence (quite a challenge for this chatty pair), a race night at Brickfields Horse and Country Club, a Black-Tie Race Night at Cowes Masonic Lodge, collections during Cowes Week wearing orange and blue tutu’s to help them stand out, and stands at various Island shows. Their latest event, a Barn Dance at the Island Steam Railway, raised just under £800 last month. Overall, their efforts have raised c.£50,000 for the Island branch of MNDA.
In 2016, Jennie took over as Chair of the branch. Calling upon her events and marketing experience, she immediately introduced an annual fundraising calendar to ensure the money would be raised on a regular basis. She also focused on helping people living with MND (PlwMND) on the Island to live by introducing annual lunches at specific venues so PlwMND could spend precious time with their families and friends.
Jennie said:
“It has been a privilege to head up this extraordinary group of people who are committed to supporting PlwMND and their families on the Isle of Wight.
“After 20 years on the committee and almost 7 years as Chair, I feel the time is right to pass the baton onto a more IT savvy person to lead the team into the next 20 years.
Article continues below this advertisement “I will miss my colleagues and all the wonderful people I have met along the way, but I can now focus on my own family and friends plus renew my love of travel so I can get to some places on the globe that my husband and I have wanted to visit for many years”.
Area Support Co-ordinator Dawn Pond commented:
“Jennie has done an amazing job of raising awareness and fundraising on the Island over the last 20 years and will be sorely missed. It’s rare to find people with so much drive and passion and it will be very difficult to replace her as our Branch chair
“Volunteering with us will not only make a difference to their lives but it will make a huge difference to yours”.
