JoAnn Bell, Cycling Without Age - Brockville

 When I found out that there were several other chapters of CWA in Ontario, I decided to try to contact as many as I could and discuss their journey to learn from them.  I tried to contact the Toronto affiliate who was featured in a CityNews article and interview that I found online but other than accepting my friend request online, have not had any other luck.

On the other hand, I sent a message to CWA Brockville and got a call back from JoAnn Bell the very next morning.  Fortunately it was a Saturday and after having worked Saturday mornings for the last 30 years, COVID had taught me that a 5 day week was beneficial to my mental health.  Not wanting to disturb a slumbering spouse, I snuck out of the bedroom to chat with JoAnn.

She was refreshing to talk to and we could have gone on for hours.  Several things about that conversation were enlightening.  The thought of CWA was implanted when she was looking after her ailing mother and wished she could take her out more often.  Unfortunately her mother passed away before she realized her dream and the plans were put on the back burner.  But a few years later, she came to the realization that she could fulfil her mother's wish by giving rides to other patients and residents who may not have the ability to experience 'wind in their hair' anymore.

While trying to fund raise for a trishaw, JoAnn partnered with a home that had a Charitable status to increase her odds of raising enough money to buy a trishaw.  She managed to raise enough for not just one but two trishaws (AMI by Cycles Toussaint) and a trailer to transport them between locations.  But just as the program was getting popular, she had the rug pulled out from under her when her charitable insitiution decided to sever ties and confiscated not only the equipment but outstanding funds that she had collected.

That was a hard lesson to learn and she decided to register her own Charitable company.  I had been warned off doing that and was interested to know how she was able to do it.  She was enthusiastic about the process and thought it was pretty straight forward since her budget wasn't as high as some of the other charitable institutions.  The process was striaght forward and the was appreciative of the help given to her by the personnel at the CRA help line.  As for audited returns, she said that they were nothing that any accountant wouldn't be able to do as hers was a retired friend who helped with them.  There was no need for a $1500 audit due to the size of her budget.

That gave me the impetus to contact the CRA about getting my Ontario non-profit a charitable status that is conferred by the federal CRA.  As she mentioned, the help line staff were extremely gracious with their time and patience and walked me through the process of submitting my request online but for some reason their system refused to accept some information and so the attendant recommended that I download the Form RC1 and submit it by mail to the CRA office, the nearest one being in Sudbury.

I was able to fill in most of the information online and other than a signature, printed it off and mailed it off to Sudbury.  JoAnn had warned me that the process could take a few months but since I had already registered the Non-Profit in Ontario I was hoping it would be expedited.  That took the pressure off having to partner with an existing charity that would then accept donations on our behalf and issue us a remittance after a 10% administration fee.

We ended the conversation pledging to meet at some point in the future, Brockville being only 40 minutes beyond Kingston where we visit occasionally.  Thank you JoAnn for being so helpful.