You don’t often go on vacation expecting to make friendships so strong that you lean on them through the toughest of times. But, for Millbrook resident Kristy Hiltz, that’s exactly what’s happened.
For the fifth year in a row, Hiltz has sold hundreds of seedlings, plants, and produce in support of a family she met by chance on a diving trip to the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador in 2018.
It was there that Hiltz — a veterinarian who owns Sherbrooke Heights Animal Hospital in Peterborough — and her husband David McNab learned that one of their “absolutely excellent” diving instructors, Christian, was working strenuous hours on the week-long cruises to financially support his 18-month-old daughter Johanita, who needed treatment for a brain tumour.
“It just killed me that we were down there on a boat having the time of our lives, with people who were acting happy and pointing out whale sharks, when the reality of their lives couldn’t have been more different,” recalls Hiltz. “Christian was working himself into the ground with superhuman efforts to save his daughter. He would have done anything and, in fact, was pushing himself so far beyond his limits.”
Initially, Hiltz, McNab, and the other vacationers who were on the cruise donated money to the family to take away some of the financial burden, but even after returning home, they continued to stay in touch.
“We ended up really connecting with this family,” says Hiltz. “We’ve stayed with them several times, and their children, honestly, are like our grandkids. We’ve become extremely close.”
Thing got even worse for Christian during the pandemic when travel was restricted, as diving instructors lost all of their income and his family’s savings were being depleted to pay for Johanita’s medical bills.
At the time, Hiltz was already a “gardener to the extreme” who says she gets in over her head every spring when she gets her seed catalogue. Always ending up with a surplus of plants, she knew she didn’t want to throw them out, so she started selling them and donating the proceeds to Christian and his family.
“I decided I’ll just sell these extra vegetables and plants and I’ll actually grow more, just as a thing to do, and then try to raise some money for these folks,” she says. “And that’s what I did.”
Over the years, Hiltz has has used her large garden plot and greenhouse to grow and sell everything from heirloom seedlings to raspberry canes, many different types of cherry tomatoes, varieties of pepper plants and hot peppers, broccoli, corn, cabbage, beets, zucchini, and more.
In her first year, Hiltz raised over $3,000 for Christian’s family and, though every September she tells herself she won’t be doing it again, she continues to do so year after year. This year she’s already raised $1,800 for Johanita, who is now seven years old and has completed her chemotherapy.
“She’s just an extraordinary kid with a ready laugh,” says Hiltz. “She needs ongoing speech and language therapy as well as physical therapy, so we shifted from trying to raise money for her chemotherapy treatments to raising money for these treatments that help her to engage more fully in her life.”
VIDEO: Johanita and her mother in Ecuador (video by David McNab)
One year, Hiltz also donated some of the proceeds to the New Canadians Centre, as Hiltz and McNab are regular supporters of the organization.
The couple is well known for their philanthropic work, including helping to bring Syrian refugees to Canada, raising funds for earthquake medical relief in Turkey and Syria, supporting a young female farmer in Kenya and the education of her adopted son, and more.
In 2021, McNab — a retired OPP officer — received the YMCA Peace Medal for his acts of kindness towards other and, in 2023, was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club of Peterborough and was also inducted into Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame.
As for Hiltz, she has raised more than $10,000 for Christian’s family in the past five years, with both her and McNab reaching out to their social media networks for support.
“They have been supportive in so many different ways, helping Johanita and through other fundraisers we’ve done,” Hiltz says. “Facebook friends always will come out and help and it’s always so fun to deliver those plants to them. They’re so excited about getting them in the ground, and then having their first tomato harvested — it’s so exciting all season long.”
One person purchased seeds for little planters which were then distributed as gift goodies following a baby shower. Similarly, another buyer purchased a plant after losing her own child to cancer.
“This was a very meaningful way for her to help out a child and a family who’s experiencing the same thing that she and her family have,” says Hiltz.
Hiltz and McNab’s good deeds have come full circle, too. Through helping Johanita, they have deepened their relationships with others that had been on the cruise.
Hiltz has also been in a situation where she needed the help of someone she hardly knew, and that person didn’t give it a second thought.
“We’re been so blessed with the people that we’ve met,” Hiltz says. “We just see so much of the worst in people (in the news), but there’s lots of good out there too. Sometimes you do see it, and meet extraordinary people who just reach out, make sacrifices, and help people out they’ve never met.”
Hiltz and McNab never seem to stop giving back. She will soon be launching another fundraiser by selling her pottery. Proceeds from the sale of the bowls and mugs will be split between the Brock Mission Primary Care Clinic and the Farley Foundation, which helps low-income pet owners. The latter will be done in memory of her friend and fellow veterinarian Dave Heaton, who passed away in March.
“My favourite way to give is an intersection of (monetary donations and volunteerism) — giving my time and energy to raise money for the various causes I support,” Hiltz says.
“I think the act of service — be it in volunteering or in fundraising — is the best way to build bridges between people, communities, and even countries. It is in the act of service to others that we forge the bonds that connect us all.”
