Most everyone at Garden Terrace in Kanata is a member of the Hope Fund, the program for employees that comes to their aid at a time of unexpected crisis. Such crises may include a severe illness, heart attack, an employee having to suddenly care for an immediate family member, a car accident or natural disaster.

"Basically everyone signs on," says Hope Fund representative for Garden Terrace, Kerrie Helman.

"I don't know why someone wouldn't consider it," says Kerrie, who is also a personal support worker at the long-term care home.

The 160-bed home also has about the same number of employees, says Kerrie, at least at this point while they are training some new people. "Everyone is always interested in joining," she says.

The program simply debits 40 cents a month -- less than $7 a year -- from employees' paycheques, making them eligible for the assistance for up to $500 per application. Kerrie says when she checked the records at Garden Terrace about two months ago, only nine people had not signed on and she is uncertain if all of the nine are still employed by the home.

"Mostly all regular staff members join. It's easy to commit to something that hardly costs anything at all."

The reason most everyone is joining, says Kerrie, is that the home just opened in January. "We're getting to people early. Everyone's excited and eager about the program," she says.

The way the fund works is an individual or a friend fills out an application. The application goes to home office where it is considered by a committee of five people from various OMNI homes.

In some cases, once money has been approved and a cheque issued, it may be possible to apply again for the same situation with another application, but it would really depend on the circumstances, according to Kerrie.