Gilda’s Club is an international network of affiliate clubhouses – non-residential, homelike meeting places where men,women and children living with cancer, as well as their friends and families, meet to learn how to live with cancer. Open to all regardless of income, type of cancer or stage of illness, Gilda’s Club’s mission is to “ensure that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action and sustained by community”.

The Gilda’s Club of Barrie, opened in 2010, is quite a story, and involves over $1,000,000 worth of donated time, labour and materials from a vast range of local businesses, from project management to the building’s signs. Sarjeant’s contributed by donating concrete for the 10,000 square foot building, which now stands at 10 Quarry Ridge Road in Barrie, which went on to receive over 6,500 visits during the first six months of 2011 alone.

Gilda’s Club Barrie is continuing to see growth in its program calendar, lectures and workshops and social activities.