Al Truistic's Why OPACC

Al Truistic’s Why OPACC

Dave’s life changed about a year and a half after his daughter was born. When she was eighteen months old he heard devastating words, “Your child has cancer.” He and his daughters Mom didn’t have time to grieve or even think as they had to learn so much in a matter of days and they had to take care of their little girl. There were new words, there were tests and scans, there were meetings with doctors, there were consent forms. They were swamped. Their lives and emotions were thrown into turmoil.

During the first round of chemo Dave noticed there was a blood donor clinic being set up in the old foyer at Sick Kids, being told that kids receiving chemo would require numerous blood transfusions, Dave lined up to donate for the first time. If his blood couldn’t help his daughter it could help some other Daddy’s little girl or boy. What was to become his altruistic life began.

Dave became involved in a parent support group in his community that he was lucky enough to find. He became a Parent Contact for the group and eventually represented them on the Special Education Advisory Committee of the Simcoe County District School Board to help the families in his area with education issues that kids with cancer and their siblings have. The Parent Liaison of that group saw Dave’s passion for the cause and got him connected with a provincial parent committee.

Dave joined Ontario Parents Advocating for Children with Cancer (OPACC) and found the whole group was united in believing that parents and families need help coping when faced with a childhood cancer journey. They needed help not only in the hospital but in their home communities from groups like the support group Candlelighters Simcoe in his community.

Over time OPACC became a provincial charity whose primary goal was to provide support for families of cancer kids across the province. Dave was one of the founding Board members and became the President and Chair, a role he volunteered at for about ten years. He recently found, although still very passionate about the organization, had to step away from it, ten years is a long time and the work was taking its toll.

Other accomplishments in the volunteer role included being part of a study for a parliamentary committee’s review of Employment Insurance and introducing Compassion Care for Canadians who have to care for a gravely ill loved one. Combining his professional career as a Biomedical Technologist with his volunteer role was instrumental in a Paediatric Oncology Satellite treatment centre being established at Southlake Regional Health Centre. He also represented OPACC at a national Roundtable Discussion on Childhood Cancer hosted by the Public Health Agency of Canada that brought paediatric medical professionals of all disciplines together to make access to childhood cancer treatment and care equitable across the country.

The name of the business came from a play on words on the volunteer and altruistic life he had lived for more than twenty years. The primary goal of the business was also apparent and Al Truistic’s Beer Bread Bakery was borne.

It has always been the goal of Al Truistic’s Beer Bread Bakery to eventually sponsor the administrative budget of Ontario Parents Advocating for Children with Cancer. Charities are businesses, not-for-profits but still a business and we all know there’s a cost of doing business. For Al Truistic’s Beer Bread Bakery to take on the administrative budget of OPACC it will allow them to use one hundred percent of the monies they raise for the programs and services they provide their fragile families.