Pair to donate tips for the ‘Scan’

The “Just Imagine” campaign to raise money for a CT Scanner here is a cause near and dear to the hearts of many in the district, including two servers at La Place Rendez-Vous.
Zoe George and Glenda Bruyere will be donating their tips from tomorrow night to the cause.
Each woman has a personal reason for wanting to see CT scanner in Fort Frances.
George’s mother, Marjory Boileau, was diagnosed with a meningioma tumour deep in her brain more than three years ago. While she has undergone Gamma Knife surgery in Winnipeg, the tumour can never actually be removed.
“It’s quite close to her pituitary gland, so if anything ever happens to her emergency-wise, they would need to scan her somehow,” George explained.
While an MRI would be ideal for Boileau’s condition, a CT Scan also would be useful.
“What if she went into a coma or into shock and they had to look at her right away? It would be nice if it was right there in the next room,” George said.
“When your mother walks around town with a tumour in her head, you wish sometimes there was a scan there in case anything happened,” she added.
It was George who approached the management at the Rendez-Vous with the idea of donating her tips, but she credited her husband with the original idea.
“It was my husband’s idea,” she admitted.
“Everyone’s talking about their part, donating $50 here and there, and my husband just said, ‘You should donate your tips one night.’”
So she agreed—much to her husband’s surprise.
“He didn’t think I’d do it,” she said. “I’m just doing my part, I guess.”
George had the full support of her employers when she proposed the idea. “It’s a good idea,” said general manager Jean-Marc Blanc.
Blanc also recognizes the importance of having a CT Scanner in town as he once had to travel to Kenora for the procedure as a precaution, though everything was fine.
“The precaution is important. Are there people saying, ‘I don’t want to get checked out because it’s such a long wait and a hassle.’ They might not think it’s serious, but maybe it is,” he noted.
The popular restaurant also is offering an additional incentive for people to give. “Whatever Zoe personally makes [in tips], we’ll match that,” Blanc pledged.
This will be in addition to the $5,000 that La Place Rendez-Vous already has pledged to the “Just Imagine” campaign.
Because George can’t be everywhere, the Rendez-Vous has devised a way so that everyone can donate tomorrow night.
“Zoe won’t be able to wait on everyone, so we’ll have a box where people can donate,” Blanc explained.
Thursday generally is the busiest night of the week in the Sand Bar at the Rendez-Vous due to its special on chicken wings, referred to simply as “wing night” by regulars.
George said she hopes to raise about $250 in tips, bringing the total to $500 with the Rendez-Vous matching her.
While George works in the Sand Bar lounge, Bruyere works as a server in the dining room and she also will be donating her tips tomorrow night to the cause.
Bruyere’s family had an unexpected need for a CT scan back in December.
“My daughter was tobogganing over the Christmas break and she smacked her head,” she explained.
They ended up taking the young girl to emergency in the middle of the night.
The doctor there decided she needed a CT scan, and asked Bruyere if she had their passports on them so they could travel to International Falls—the closest one available.
“We weren’t prepared to leave the country. We were just going to the hospital,” she laughed.
Bruyere’s daughter was fine, but the incident showed her the importance of having a local CT Scanner for everyone to benefit from.
“I just think it’s really important. It’s valuable,” said the mother of five.
“Everybody needs it,” echoed George.
In addition to serving at the Rendez-Vous, George works part-time as an educational assistant at J.W. Walker School here.
To her, this is more than an opportunity to help raise money. It’s a lesson for her students.
“I also want to show the students I work with that they can make a difference,” George stressed. “Their life in the world is not just a joke.
“If you want a CT scan in your town, don’t be all talk. Do something. Even if it’s something small.”
It’s a message the entire district seems to have taken to heart—raising more than $1.3 million since late October for the $1.5-million piece of equipment.