Curious about the beginnings of Miss Lizzy’s foundation? Namesake Liz DelCiancio tells her story:
“In January 2009, my daughter and I went on a trip to England and Italy. While in England, we went for “high tea”. I had such a lovely time, having afternoon tea with Sarah, that I thought we should bring home some tea so that I could host an afternoon tea with friends. In March 2009, on International Women’s Day, I invited some close friends and family to tea. We served tea, scones, sandwiches, and a variety of desserts. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon so much that I decided to make it an annual event.
In December 2009, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I started chemo treatments in February 2010 but was determined to still have the afternoon tea again in March and so I hosted the tea between chemo treatments. I decided that I wanted to turn this afternoon tea into a fundraising opportunity.
We donated all the proceeds from this quaint tea gathering to the Image Enhancement Room at the Windsor Cancer Centre. The Image Enhancement Room provides free wigs, hats and scarves to patients experiencing hair loss due to their cancer treatments. The “afternoon tea” was a huge success. My friends were very generous and we raised over $2,000 despite our small number of attendees.
I decided to start planning for 100 guests for the tea party in 2011. Knowing that I would need help to organize an event of this size, I sent an email out to some friends to see if any of them would be willing to help. I was astonished! Fifteen friends came forward wanting to help and so the Tea Party Committee was formed.
Since the plan was to grow the event, we were in desperate need of teacups and teapots to serve 100 women. My dear friend, Tammy Stasko, contacted the Southpoint Sun to see if they could help. The Southpoint Sun ran an article about the fundraiser and our need for tea cups and tea pots. Once the article was published, the phone would not stop ringing! I collected over 400 teacups, along with many teapots, creamers, and sugar bowls. It was amazing to see the generosity of the community and I was extremely touched so many people would donate to help our event. Each person was so happy to donate the cups to my fundraiser, knowing that their family treasures would be well taken care of and put to good use.
On June 12, 2011, about 200 women attended the afternoon tea at the Roma Club Pavilion. The fundraising event raised over $12,500 in a few short hours. The money was donated to the Patient Assistance Fund at the Windsor Cancer Centre, which provides financial assistance to patients in need.
At a followup meeting, the committee suggested that we call the fundraiser “Miss Lizzy’s Tea” and so the event was named and became an annual fundraising event. After several successful years of events, my daughter and I decided to branch out into other fundraising events and in 2015, we formed a foundation called Miss Lizzy’s Foundation.”