JASON SETNYK

The community is mourning the passing of Sandy Collette, the first Fundraising Coordinator for Carefor Hospice Cornwall, whose work over nearly 15 years helped ensure the facility’s existence and ongoing impact.

From the Hospice’s founding in 2009 until her retirement in late 2023, Collette was at the heart of its fundraising efforts, raising more than $7 million to support palliative care in Cornwall and area. She played a key role in the capital campaign that built the hospice and continued to secure vital yearly contributions. At her retirement, she said she felt good knowing they had met their fundraising goal that year.

A social media post from Hospice noted: “Sandy was a community link to hospice, working tirelessly as a champion for not only hospice but also the families who benefitted from it. A candle has been lit today in her honour.”

Gabriel Rivière-Reid, who worked alongside her at the YourTV Hospice Marathon, reflected: “Sandy’s spirit is in every brick of hospice… She was the small but mighty force that helped ensure over a half a million dollars was raised yearly for palliative care in our community. They don’t make many like Sandy Collette, and our community and our lives were better for her having been a part of them.”

Trevor Eggleton, Carefor’s Director of Marketing, Communications & Fundraising, once described her as someone who “worked diligently with the community” and built countless relationships, both through Hospice and her earlier work with the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

A lifelong Cornwall resident, Collette will be remembered for her remarkable fundraising achievements and also for her kindness, determination, and the lasting difference she made in the lives of so many.