As the chair of a Peterborough neighbourhood group facing a financially onerous legal settlement over the holidays, Sarah McNeilly asked for a Christmas miracle — and she got one.
In just three days, the Peterborough community stepped up in a big way by donating $15,000 to Northcrest Neighbours for Fair Process (NNFP), which is required to pay a $22,500 legal settlement to the City of Peterborough and Brock Mission.
The negotiated settlement followed NNFP’s failed legal challenge against Mayor Jeff Leal’s use of his strong mayor powers to exempt Brock Mission’s proposed six-storey transitional housing project at 738 Chemong Road from the zoning by-law amendment application and site plan control requirements that normally apply to projects of this kind.
On Monday (December 22), three days after NNFP launched the fundraiser and three days before Christmas, McNeilly announced the $15,000 goal has been met.
“Right now, I feel like George Bailey in the final scene of It’s a Wonderful Life — when the whole town pours into his living room with whatever they can spare,” McNeilly shared on GoFundMe. “Coins. Envelopes. Gestures of love to let him know he wasn’t alone.”
Although the GoFundMe campaign goal was originally $15,000, McNeilly lowered it twice after receiving more than $5,300 in offline donations over the weekend.
As a result of an earlier fundraising campaign, NNFP already had around $8,000 available to put towards the $22,500 settlement, which must be paid within 60 days.
If NNFP could not raise the remaining required funds, McNeilly — as sole director of the NNFP corporation — was on the hook for the settlement cost.
Recognizing the dire financial straits NNFP and McNeilly were facing, the group’s lawyer — Mark Pedersen, a partner with Belleville-based law firm O’Flynn Weese LLP — forgave NNFP’s outstanding legal fees so the group could redirect its remaining funds toward the settlement agreement, which McNeilly called “a Christmas miracle.”
“But it’s not enough on its own,” McNeilly said when launching the fundraiser. “We’re going to need another Christmas miracle, and that’s where our community comes in.”
The Peterborough community delivered NNFP its second Christmas miracle, with 100 donations through the GoFundMe totalling $9,685 and the remaining amount funded by offline donations.
“I am crying while writing this,” McNeilly shared on GoFundMe. “Over one single weekend — during the holidays no less — you showed up for me and my neighbours and raised $15,000. I don’t know how to properly thank you for that.”
Referring again to It’s a Wonderful Life, McNeilly wrote “I keep thinking about what Clarence writes to him at the end: ‘No man is a failure who has friends.'”
“Your support is deeply meaningful to me and my neighbours. Beyond your incredible generosity, your willingness to put your name on this and stand with us — your solidarity, your friendship — means more than you’ll ever know.”
“After nearly a year of constant pressure, fear, intimidation, and exhaustion — after being made to feel small, isolated, and villainized — you have reminded me why I love this place. Why community still matters. Why standing up is worth it. Thank you for standing with me and my neighbours.”
