Lindsay Sleeth is changing lives and London West MP Ed
Holder (BA'76) is supporting her efforts.
As Director of the Faculty of Health Sciences Dream
Team, Sleeth is helping grant wishes for children with
life-threatening illnesses, by raising money for the
southwestern Ontario chapter of the Make-a-Wish
Foundation.
Fourth-year Health Sciences student, Lindsay
Sleeth, is congratulated by donor Ed Holder
(BA'76) after receiving the Bruno DaSilva
Community Service Award. Holder and his wife,
Judite, created the award to honour the memory
of their late son Bruno, who was killed in a car
accident when he was 14 years old.
“I had the opportunity to meet a wish-child three years
ago and seeing the joy something so small could bring to
not only the child but their entire family inspired me
to want to continue to try and make a difference,” says
Sleeth, a fourth-year student.
Because of her volunteer work with the Dream Team, as
well as at Parkwood Hospital and as a Faculty of Health
Sciences soph, Sleeth was chosen to receive the Bruno
DaSilva Community Service Award worth $4,500.
“Lindsay lives and breathes community,” says Holder, who
along with his wife Judite donated $100,000 to Western
to create the award to honour the memory of their active
and community-minded 14-year-old son who was killed in a
car accident in 1996.
“She is a giver and inspires others to be better.”
Holder says his son had a tremendous heart for people
and when he recently met Sleeth and found out how she is
reaching out and making others better by being around
her, it touched his heart.
The Bruno Da Silva Community Service Award is awarded
annually to a third-or fourth-year student enrolled in
an honors program with an emphasis on recognizing
leadership qualities and commitment to community
services.
Sleeth says she was thrilled to thank Holder in person
for his family’s generous gift.
“It is my hope that this award will continue to honour
the students that continually devote their time to
bettering the lives of others,” says Sleeth. “It is our
donors that allow so many of the wonderful things that
happen at Western to occur.”
Holder says he believes in giving back to Western and
its students because he recognizes what his alma mater
has done for him.
“We are products of everything we have learned and
everyone we have met,” says Holder. “Our school is a
huge part of who we are.”
