Last year Sylvie Gosselin of the Sherbrooke Rotary Club was inspired. “I wanted to take on a project that would have a positive impact on women,” Gosselin said, explaining that when she heard about a project that saw communities in the United States making heart-shaped pillows for breast cancer patients who had recently experienced a Mastectomy, it seemed like the perfect fit. “I thought of maybe making 100,” she said, explaining that when she took the idea to her fellow Rotarians, they were so engaged with the idea that six times that many ended up being made. “They said to me why don’t we take it on as a project and make more?” Gosselin recalled, explaining that the success of the initiative is owed not just to the engagement of the local club but also the involvement of a large number of Rotarians who were in town for an anniversary celebration as well as Les Phénix de La Rose des vents, the local dragon boat team made of breast cancer survivors. “Of that first “order” only 250 are left now,” she said, explaining that the cushions are distributed by breast cancer support organization La Rose des vents and are also available at the Hotel-Dieu hospital in Sherbrooke. “I imagine that by May of next year those will be gone.” That in mind, Gosselin is already at work coordinating another round of volunteers to cut, stuff, and sew up another 600 cushions. See full story in the Tuesday, Dec. 24 edition of The Record.
