“I had the money to spare, and I wanted to share it with people who were most in need," a woman recently said about a large donation she gave in hopes that it will help save young lives.

Joan, who did not want her last name used and is over 100-years-old, spoke with the Anglican Journal about her recent gift. The Journal reports that the woman has been a consistent giver to Anglican ministries over the years.

“My number one interest was to help [prevent] the young people from killing [themselves], giving them an interest in living…I did read that they had started this program of bands and so on for music programs, which apparently had been very successful,” Joan told the Anglican Journal. “The numbers had increased tremendously, and that had had a strong influence on reducing the number of young people who did kill themselves.”

The music program Joan talks about is a new initiative that has seen a lot of success already.

Indigenous ministries coordinator Canon Ginny Doctor said that the music programs have given Indigenous youth a sense of empowerment.

“When [people] say, ‘Oh yeah, I can sing that song in Cree’ […] just a simple song will really empower those people,” Doctor said, adding, “They’ll hear it and say, ‘Wow, I can do this, and I’m going to do more.’”

Some of the donation will also be set aside in an endowment fund with hopes that it will continue to fund music programs in the future.

Church working to save young Indigenous lives

The Anglican Church of Canada has been focussing recently on preventing suicide in Indigenous communities. In 2018 they appointed two workers as suicide prevention workers as part of their Indigenous ministry.

Yolanda Bird was named the suicide prevention worker for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and parts of northern Ontario.

At the time of her appointment, Bird called suicide an epidemic, and it's hitting First Nations communities hard. On her second day working for the church, a youth took her own life. She was 18-years-old.

"I was helping out with the families and just trying to be there for them," explained Bird, who hopes to include grief counselling in her new role.