Seven years ago Lezley Wright found herself praying for a miracle.
Now the Coldstream-based businesswoman dedicates herself to making “miracles” happen for others through the Miracle Bucket Society and its flagship fundraiser, the Power of the Purse.
The annual gala event sees high-end handbags from designers such as Michael Kors, Kate Spade and Louis Vuitton filled with luxury items and gift cards donated by local businesses and members of the community auctioned off in support of local families in need.
“We help people who are falling through the cracks,” Wright explained.
“Whether that’s a single mom working several jobs to support her kids or parents trying to hold down full-time jobs while caring for a child who needs to be taken back and forth to Vancouver for ongoing medical treatment. Sometimes you can try your hardest to get ahead and find you just keep falling behind.”
Wright said it was that feeling that inspired her to create the society nearly decade ago.
“I was going through a really bad time in my life. I had a really bad attitude and I had taken my problems and made them so large that I had lost focus,” she recalled.
In a moment of what she refers to as one of desperation, she placed a mosaic vase on a pillar in the middle of her hair salon and called it the miracle bucket.
She asked clients to drop a “buck in the bucket” and a scrap of paper with their name on it. At the end of the month, a name would be drawn and that person would choose a family they knew needed help and donate the bucket proceeds to that family.
“The only way you can get a miracle for yourself is if you make one happen for someone else — just the act of giving one you automatically feel better about who you are as a human being. You feel better about you.”
Shortly after the Miracle Bucket Society was founded.
And while Wright is reluctant to take full credit for her role in its creation, her friend, and Miracle Bucket Society board member, Leslie Stewart, says the society was nearly “all” Wright’s doing.
“She put that bucket out and was relentless in getting people to donate because she cares so much,” Stewart said.
“The idea was that the people the money was helping weren’t supposed to know where the money was coming from — like a miracle, was also Lezley. She’s shy about taking credit, but she deserves a lot of it.”
“I started the society, but I didn’t,” Wright conceded.
“For me, it wasn’t that I thought money was going to fall from the heavens or now I was going to be blessed forever. It was just a matter of realizing that I was so blessed to be alive and that my problems weren’t even close to what people right around me were dealing with. It gave me perspective and a purpose.”
Wright isn’t the only person who prefers anonymity.
The Miracle Bucket Society’s website does not list a specific founder. It only indicates that the society was established in Vernon in 2011 by a group of business women who “wish to remain anonymous.”
The society was officially incorporated in 2012 and has since grown to support nine families a month.
After seven years, Wright admitted, it gets harder and harder to remain anonymous. But the organization remains firm in its mandate not to identify themselves directly to the recipients of the bucket funds.
Rather than rely on recommendations from friends or clients, Wright said the society’s board now defers the Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundation, the Canadian Mental Health Association Vernon branch and the Vernon Women’s Transition House, who to make referrals to the society.
Recipient families are supported through anonymous gift cards for the Real Canadian Superstore and/or their affiliates to use for food, clothing, gas or any other items they need. Wright said gifts cards range in value from $200 to $600 — depending on the needs and size of the family it’s going to.
The gift cards are passed on by staff from the IHA, CMHA or the transition house.
“While she is “more than thrilled” to provide families with financial support, Wright said her favourite part of the interaction is the personal touch.
“We buy inspirational cards and write ‘We Believe in You.’ Just those words — we don’t sign it or anything. And they have no idea where it comes from,” she said.
“We know the $400 or $500 isn’t going to change someone’s life but it can make a difference. What we want is them to get the card. Just think, they are at the end of their rope and they get this card and there are no obligations — no one to have to thank and there is this gift and a card telling you you’re not alone. I get goosebumps thinking about that moment,” she said.
Those moments, and more, she continued, are supported by the Power of the Purse event, which will be held on May 25 at the Vernon Lodge.
“The need is there, that’s the sad part,” she said.
The 4th annual Power of the Purse fundraiser will be held at the Vernon Lodge on May 25. Tickets are $450 per table or $60 each and are available by contacting the Miracle Bucket Society at 250-558-0638.