Children should have a safe space to call home.

Mothers shouldn't have to decide between feeding themselves and feeding their family.
Breastfeeding support should be part of universal healthcare.
Timely mental health services shouldn't just be for those who can afford it.

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We've drafted the letters too. Pick a recipient below, open the template, copy it, fill in the bracketed details — your name, theirs — and send it. Rewrite it entirely in your own words if that feels more like you; either way, your voice carries further than ours alone.

Government

City Councillor

Suggested subject: Please Support GROW – Investing in London's Families and Community Wellbeing

Dear Councillor [Last Name],

I am writing as a resident of London to ask for your support of a local organization that is making a real and lasting difference in our city: Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW).

GROW is a registered Canadian charity and medical clinic founded in 2021. It serves parents and children from preconception through age five — the window where early investment creates the most lasting impact. The families GROW serves are often without a primary care provider and face significant barriers: poverty, trauma histories, language differences, lack of transportation, and limited access to coordinated care. GROW meets them exactly where they are, providing wrap-around support that is free or low-cost.

As a City Councillor, you have a direct interest in the social and economic health of London's neighbourhoods. GROW's work is deeply connected to the issues our city grapples with every day — family stability, housing, poverty, and community safety. When a new mother receives proper postpartum support, she is better equipped to provide a safe and stable home for her child. When parents learn to address their own childhood trauma, they are less likely to pass it on to the next generation. When families are connected to existing city services and supports, fewer people fall through the cracks.

GROW is not duplicating what the City already does — it is filling the gap that the public system has not been able to fill, and doing so efficiently, in partnership with the Middlesex-London Health Unit, the London InterCommunity Health Centre, and other local organizations.

I am respectfully asking you to:

  • Meet with GROW's leadership team to understand the scope of their work and the families they serve
  • Champion municipal support — whether through funding, access to City facilities, or formal recognition — that helps GROW sustain and expand its services
  • Connect GROW with relevant City departments and programs that could benefit from or contribute to this work

The investment London makes in families today will reduce the demand on emergency services, social supports, and the healthcare system for years to come. GROW is already doing this work — they simply need the City's partnership to do it at the scale London deserves.

Thank you for your service to our community. I hope you will stand with the families GROW serves.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address / Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone — optional]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

Mayor of London

Suggested subject: Please Support GROW – A Model for Community Health in London

Dear Mayor Morgan,

I am writing to ask for your personal support of Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW), a London-based registered charity that is doing something rare and essential: preventing the kinds of outcomes that cost our city the most, before they happen.

GROW is a medical clinic and not-for-profit organization serving parents and children from preconception through age five. It provides evidence-based, trauma-informed care to families who are navigating poverty, limited access to primary care, and complex social barriers. Services that are typically reserved for those who can afford private pay — lactation support, postpartum mental health care, social work, system navigation, and parenting programs — are offered at GROW free or at low cost, to anyone who needs them.

As Mayor, you have spoken to the importance of a safe, thriving London for all residents. GROW's mission is inseparable from that vision. The research is clear: children who grow up in safe, stable, nurturing environments are healthier, more resilient, less likely to experience homelessness, and more likely to contribute positively to their communities. GROW works upstream — supporting families in the earliest, most critical years — so that London doesn't have to manage the downstream consequences.

With families across London still struggling to access consistent primary care, and with the pressures of poverty and mental health affecting households in every ward, GROW represents an efficient, community-led solution. They work in partnership with the Middlesex-London Health Unit, the London InterCommunity Health Centre, Western University, and other valued local organizations — amplifying the impact of what already exists rather than competing with it.

I am respectfully asking you to:

  • Meet with GROW's team and hear directly from the families whose lives have been changed by this work
  • Use your platform to publicly advocate for sustained public investment in organizations like GROW that prevent harm, reduce costs, and build community
  • Help connect GROW with City-level funding, facilities, and partnerships that would allow them to grow their capacity

London has an opportunity to be a leader in showing what community health can look like when it is done with intention and compassion. GROW is that model — it just needs the City's support to reach its full potential.

Thank you, Mayor Morgan, for everything you do for London. I hope GROW earns your support.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address / Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone — optional]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

Mayor's office
Your MP

Suggested subject: Please Support GROW – Federal Investment in Early Childhood and Health Equity

Dear [MP's Name],

I am writing as your constituent to ask for your support of a remarkable London-based organization: Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW).

GROW is a registered Canadian charity and medical clinic providing comprehensive, evidence-based care to parents and children from preconception through age five. It serves families who are without a family doctor and who face significant barriers to care — financial hardship, trauma, cultural and language differences, and social isolation. The services GROW provides — lactation support, postpartum mental health care, social work, nutrition support, and system navigation — are not covered by OHIP, which means that without organizations like GROW, they are simply inaccessible to low-income families.

As my Member of Parliament, you have a role in shaping the national conversation on healthcare access, health equity, and early childhood investment. GROW's work speaks directly to federal priorities in all three areas. Estimates suggest that between 10 and 20 percent of Canadians lack consistent access to primary care. For vulnerable populations — those facing poverty, trauma, newcomer status, or LGBTQ2S+ barriers — that gap is even wider. GROW closes that gap, locally, in London, every day.

The evidence supporting investment in the first five years of life is unambiguous: every dollar spent on early childhood intervention saves many more downstream, in reduced healthcare costs, lower rates of mental illness, less demand on emergency and social services, and stronger workforce participation. This is not charity — it is smart, evidence-based public investment.

I am respectfully asking you to:

  • Meet with GROW's team to learn about their model and the federal funding landscape that could support it
  • Advocate in Ottawa for federal funding streams — including those related to healthcare access, early childhood development, maternal health, and health equity — that organizations like GROW can access
  • Amplify GROW's story in Parliament as an example of what community-led, prevention-focused care looks like in practice

Canada can and should be a leader in ensuring that every family — regardless of income, background, or postal code — has access to the care that sets their children up to thrive. GROW is building that future, one family at a time, right here in London.

Thank you for representing our community in Ottawa. I hope you will bring your voice to this important cause.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address / Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone — optional]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

Find your MP
Your MPP

Suggested subject: Please Support GROW – Provincial Action Needed for London's Most Vulnerable Families

Dear [MPP's Name],

I am writing as your constituent to ask for your support of Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW), a London-based registered charity and medical clinic that is addressing one of Ontario's most pressing healthcare gaps — and doing it well.

GROW provides comprehensive, trauma-informed, evidence-based care to parents and children from preconception through age five. It serves families without a primary care provider who face intersecting barriers: poverty, mental health challenges, trauma histories, and limited access to the kinds of services that are proven to change outcomes. The supports GROW offers — infant feeding support, postpartum mental health services, social work, parenting programs, and system navigation — fall outside what OHIP covers, making them inaccessible to vulnerable families without the financial means to pay privately.

As my MPP, you are in a direct position to influence the provincial policies and funding programs that determine what kind of care is available to Ontario families. GROW's work intersects with some of the province's most pressing challenges: the primary care shortage, the mental health crisis, and the long-term costs of child poverty and homelessness. Ontario is facing a system under strain — and organizations like GROW are working to relieve that strain through prevention and early intervention, before problems become crises.

GROW has already expressed interest in becoming a formally recognized Primary Care Team under the Ministry of Health. Their model — pairing a registered medical clinic with a not-for-profit charity — seamlessly integrates publicly funded care with specialized services, and has earned letters of support from over 20 community partners. This is exactly the kind of innovative, collaborative, community-based model that Ontario's healthcare transformation needs more of.

I am respectfully asking you to:

  • Meet with GROW's team to understand what they are building and what provincial support could unlock
  • Advocate for provincial funding — through the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, or other relevant ministries — that would allow GROW to sustain and expand its programs
  • Champion policies that close the gap between what OHIP funds and what Ontario families actually need to be well, particularly in the critical postpartum and early childhood period
  • Support GROW's pathway to becoming a formally recognized and funded Primary Care Team

When Ontario invests in the health of mothers and young children today, it reduces the burden on hospitals, emergency departments, child welfare systems, and social services for decades to come. GROW is already demonstrating this — they simply need the Province's partnership to do it at scale.

Thank you for serving our community at Queen's Park. I hope GROW's work earns your voice and your support.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address / Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone — optional]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

Find your MPP

Health

Middlesex London Ontario Health Team (MLOHT)

Suggested subject: Please Support GROW – Aligned with Ontario's Vision for Integrated, Team-Based Primary Care

Dear Middlesex London Ontario Health Team Leadership,

I am writing as a community member to ask for your support of Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW) — a London-based registered charity and medical clinic whose model is closely aligned with the integrated, team-based, population-health vision that Ontario Health Teams were created to advance.

GROW was founded in 2021 and granted charitable status in 2022. It serves parents and children from preconception through age five, providing evidence-based, trauma-informed, interdisciplinary care to families who are unattached to primary care and who face significant barriers including poverty, trauma histories, language differences, and complex social needs. By pairing a registered medical clinic with a not-for-profit charitable organization, GROW seamlessly integrates OHIP-funded medical care with the specialized allied health services — lactation support, social work, psychotherapy, system navigation, and nutritional counselling — that vulnerable families need but cannot access through the public system alone.

As an Ontario Health Team, you are uniquely positioned to identify, support, and advocate for organizations like GROW that are actively filling critical gaps in the local health ecosystem. GROW has already expressed interest in becoming a formally recognized Primary Care Team under the Ministry of Health, and their application for the Thames Valley Family Health Team included letters of support from over 20 community partners. This is an organization with demonstrated community trust, strong clinical partnerships, and a model that is ready to scale — if the right systemic support is in place.

The families GROW serves are among the highest-need, highest-cost in our community — and the evidence is unambiguous that early investment in this population prevents far greater health system expenditures downstream.

I am respectfully asking the Middlesex London Ontario Health Team to:

  • Formally recognize GROW as a community health partner within the Ontario Health Team framework
  • Advocate for grant funding and system support that would allow GROW to grow its capacity and move toward sustainable, publicly funded operations
  • Actively support GROW's pathway to becoming a recognized and resourced Primary Care Team, and help connect them with the system-level partners and funding streams that would make this possible

Organizations like GROW are exactly what Ontario's health transformation needs: innovative, community-led, evidence-based, and deeply rooted in the realities of the population they serve. I hope you will champion their work.

Thank you for your leadership in building a healthier London. GROW deserves your voice.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address / Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone — optional]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

MLOHT contact
Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU)

Suggested subject: Please Support GROW – A Community Partner Serving London's Most Vulnerable Families

Dear Middlesex-London Health Unit Leadership,

I am writing as a member of this community to ask for your organization's active support of Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW) — a London-based registered charity and medical clinic whose work directly complements and extends the public health goals your unit works so hard to advance.

GROW was founded in 2021 and granted charitable status in 2022. It provides comprehensive, evidence-based, trauma-informed care to parents and children from preconception through age five — with a particular focus on families without a primary care provider who face significant psychosocial barriers. GROW's work spans infant feeding support, postpartum mental health care, social work, parenting programs, and system navigation — services that fall outside what OHIP covers, but which are proven to change outcomes for families and reduce long-term demand on the healthcare system.

GROW and the MLHU are already partners in this work. GROW providers complete the MLHU's breastfeeding training as part of their onboarding, they receive referrals from your public health nurses, and both organizations are actively working to coordinate services to avoid duplication and ensure seamless care. This existing relationship reflects a shared commitment to the health of London's families — and it is that shared commitment that leads me to write to you today.

GROW fills a gap that sits just beyond what the MLHU's home visiting and public health programs can reach: the intensive, interdisciplinary, wrap-around clinical care that the most vulnerable families need — including evenings and weekends, when families most often struggle and when no publicly funded support is currently available.

I am respectfully asking the MLHU to:

  • Formally recognize GROW as a valued community health partner and explore opportunities for deeper collaboration and shared funding advocacy
  • Champion GROW's access to grant and funding opportunities within your networks, including those that support maternal and child health, breastfeeding promotion, and early childhood intervention
  • Advocate alongside GROW for sustainable public investment in the integrated, community-based care model that GROW represents

The MLHU has always been a champion for population health and prevention. GROW is doing that work at the clinical level, with the families who need it most. Together, we can reach further and achieve more than either organization can alone.

Thank you for the vital role you play in the health of our community. I hope GROW earns your continued and deepening support.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address / Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone — optional]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

MLHU contact
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC)

Suggested subject: Please Support GROW – Extending the Continuum of Care for London's Most Vulnerable Families

Dear London Health Sciences Centre Leadership,

I am writing to ask for LHSC's active support of Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW) — a London-based registered charity and medical clinic that is doing critical work to support families after they leave your care, and to reduce the demand they would otherwise place back upon it.

GROW was founded in 2021 and provides comprehensive, evidence-based, trauma-informed care to parents and children from preconception through age five. GROW and LHSC are already connected in a meaningful and practical way: when families deliver at Victoria Hospital and no primary care provider has been identified for them upon discharge, an automatic referral is sent to GROW. This pathway exists because LHSC recognized a gap — and GROW stepped into it.

Every day, new mothers leave LHSC without adequate postpartum support. Many face the critical fourth trimester — the first 12 weeks after birth — with no access to a family doctor, no lactation support, no mental health care, and no one to help them navigate a complex and fragmented system. Without organizations like GROW, these families turn to walk-in clinics, emergency departments, and crisis services. The downstream cost to the health system — in ER visits, hospitalizations for infant feeding complications, untreated postpartum depression, and early childhood developmental concerns — is significant and preventable.

GROW offers the community-based safety net that prevents those outcomes. Their interdisciplinary team provides infant feeding support, postpartum mental health care, social work, system navigation, and parenting programs, free or at low cost, including evenings and weekends — the times when new families struggle most and when no other publicly funded option exists.

I am respectfully asking LHSC to:

  • Formalize and deepen the referral partnership with GROW, ensuring that every family leaving without primary care is connected seamlessly and promptly to GROW's services
  • Advocate for sustainable funding for GROW through your institutional networks, foundations, and community benefit channels
  • Explore opportunities for collaboration — including shared research, trainee placements, and co-advocacy for the publicly funded postpartum care infrastructure that London's families need and deserve

LHSC has always been a leader in advancing care for Southwestern Ontario. GROW is an extension of that care — for the families who need it most, in the hours and weeks after they leave your doors.

Thank you for the extraordinary care you provide to our community. I hope GROW earns your partnership and your support.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address / Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone — optional]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

LHSC contact
St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundation

Suggested subject: Please Support GROW – An Investment in London's Families with Lasting Returns

Dear St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundation Leadership,

I am writing to ask for your Foundation's support of Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW) — a London-based registered charity whose mission aligns powerfully with St. Joseph's long-standing commitment to compassionate, person-centred care for the most vulnerable members of our community.

GROW was founded in 2021 and granted charitable status in 2022. It provides comprehensive, evidence-based, trauma-informed care to parents and children from preconception through age five. The families GROW serves are among London's most vulnerable: unattached to primary care, navigating poverty and trauma, and unable to access the specialized services — lactation support, postpartum mental health care, social work, nutrition counselling, and system navigation — that are proven to change outcomes but are not covered by OHIP.

GROW's model is both innovative and deeply rooted in values that St. Joseph's has long championed: whole-person care, health equity, and the conviction that every family, regardless of income or circumstance, deserves access to the support they need to thrive. GROW does not ask families to fit themselves into the system. It builds the system around the family.

The case for investment is compelling. The evidence is unambiguous: every dollar directed toward early childhood intervention and maternal health prevents many more dollars in downstream healthcare costs — reduced emergency visits, lower rates of postpartum mental illness, fewer child welfare interventions, and healthier communities for decades to come. GROW intervenes at the earliest, highest-leverage moment in a family's life.

I am respectfully asking the St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundation to:

  • Consider GROW for grant funding through your existing programs and philanthropic streams that support maternal health, mental health, and health equity in London
  • Open a conversation with GROW's leadership about shared values, shared patients, and the potential for deeper partnership and co-investment in this work
  • Use your platform and networks to amplify GROW's story and connect them with donors, funders, and health system partners who share a commitment to London's most vulnerable families

St. Joseph's has always stood for care that goes beyond the clinical — care that sees the whole person and meets them where they are. GROW carries that same spirit into the community, one family at a time.

Thank you for the values-driven work your Foundation supports every day. I hope GROW earns your investment.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address / Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone — optional]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

Local media

CTV News London

Story angle: Human interest / local healthcare gap / women leading change
Suggested subject: Story Pitch: London Women Are Quietly Revolutionizing Healthcare for Families — And They Need Your Help

Dear CTV London News Team,

I am a community member writing to bring a local story to your attention — one I believe your viewers will find both compelling and urgent.

In London, Ontario, a women-led group of healthcare professionals has built something remarkable: Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW), a registered charity and medical clinic that is filling a critical gap in our city's healthcare system, one family at a time. This is a story about innovation born from necessity, about mothers helping mothers, and about what happens when a community refuses to accept that vulnerable families should simply fall through the cracks.

The Story

Nearly 1 in 4 Londoners do not have a family doctor. For new mothers and young families, that gap can be catastrophic. The services proven to change outcomes — lactation support, postpartum mental health care, social work, system navigation — are not covered by OHIP, making them inaccessible to the families who need them most. GROW was built specifically to close that gap.

Founded by Dr. Brenna Kaschor, a family physician who experienced a high-risk twin pregnancy, an emergency C-section, and eight weeks in the NICU, GROW opened its doors in 2021. Dr. Kaschor had witnessed, over years of practice, the devastating consequences of unaddressed childhood trauma passed from one generation to the next. After her own experience navigating the system at its most fragile moment — and finding how little support existed — she decided to build what she wished had been there for herself and her patients.

Today, GROW serves some of London's most vulnerable families: those without primary care providers, those navigating poverty and trauma, newcomers, single parents, and families facing the kinds of intersecting barriers that a 15-minute doctor's appointment was never designed to address. Their interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, and lactation consultants provides wrap-around care, including evenings and weekends — the times when families struggle most and when no publicly funded option currently exists.

Why Now

GROW is at a pivotal moment. Demand for their services far outpaces their current capacity. They urgently need both financial donations and volunteers to expand what they can offer to London families. Without greater public awareness and community support, families who need GROW most may not be able to access care.

What Makes This a Strong CTV Story:

  • A compelling founder's personal journey — from patient to physician to community changemaker
  • A clear, urgent local issue your viewers live every day: the family doctor shortage and what happens to new mothers when the system fails them
  • Visual, human storytelling opportunities: the clinic, the families, the team
  • A direct community call to action — donate, volunteer, advocate

GROW's founder, Dr. Brenna Kaschor, and her team are available for interviews. I would be glad to connect you directly.

Thank you for the important role CTV London plays in telling the stories that matter to our community. I hope GROW earns a place among them.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

CTV contact
CBC London

Story angle: Systemic healthcare analysis / intergenerational trauma / public interest journalism
Suggested subject: Story Pitch: The Gap Between What OHIP Pays For and What London Families Actually Need — One Clinic Is Trying to Fill It

Dear CBC London Team,

I am writing to suggest a story I believe speaks directly to the kind of deep, public-interest journalism that CBC London does best — one that connects a local community effort to a national conversation about healthcare equity, early childhood investment, and what it truly costs our society when we underinvest in families.

The Story

Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW) is a London-based registered charity and medical clinic founded in 2021. It was built to address a fundamental flaw in Ontario's healthcare system: the fact that the services most proven to change long-term outcomes — lactation support, postpartum mental health care, social work, trauma-informed parenting programs, system navigation — are not covered by OHIP, and are therefore effectively reserved for families who can afford to pay privately.

GROW's patients are largely women and families without primary care providers, navigating poverty, trauma, newcomer status, language barriers, and the weight of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) — the documented childhood traumas that, when unaddressed, are passed from one generation to the next. GROW was built on a single premise: that if you want to change outcomes for children, you must support the parents raising them. And if you want to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma, you have to intervene early — in the first five years of life, where the neurological, emotional, and physical foundations of health are established.

Founded by Dr. Brenna Kaschor — whose own experience with a high-risk twin pregnancy and NICU stay led her to witness firsthand what the system fails to provide — GROW has grown from a small team in 2021 to a multidisciplinary clinic with strong partnerships with LHSC, the Middlesex-London Health Unit, the London InterCommunity Health Centre, and more than 20 community organizations.

The Broader Stakes

Estimates suggest 10 to 20 percent of Canadians lack consistent access to primary care. In London, where poverty, housing instability, and the legacies of the opioid crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic intersect daily, that number hits harder. The downstream costs of unaddressed postpartum mental health disorders, low breastfeeding rates, and unmitigated childhood trauma are enormous — borne by emergency departments, child welfare services, the justice system, and future generations. GROW is working upstream. The question is whether London — and Ontario — will invest in doing the same.

GROW is now calling on the public for both donations and volunteers to sustain and grow what they have built. A CBC feature could meaningfully accelerate that call.

Dr. Kaschor and the GROW team are available for in-depth interviews. I would be glad to facilitate an introduction.

Thank you for the rigorous, compassionate journalism you bring to London. This story deserves that treatment.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

CBC contact
London Free Press

Story angle: Local community news / women in leadership / fundraising and volunteer drive
Suggested subject: Story Pitch: London Women-Led Charity Is Changing Healthcare for Families — And Needs the Community's Help

Dear London Free Press Team,

I'm reaching out as a London resident to bring a local story to your attention that I think your readers will want to know about — and get behind.

Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW) is a London-based registered charity and medical clinic that has been quietly doing extraordinary work since 2021 — and it was built almost entirely by women, for families. Founded by Dr. Brenna Kaschor, a London family physician who experienced a life-altering high-risk pregnancy and came out the other side determined to build something better, GROW provides comprehensive, wrap-around care to some of London's most vulnerable new parents and young families.

GROW fills the space between what OHIP covers and what families actually need: lactation consultants, postpartum mental health support, social workers, parenting programs rooted in the science of childhood trauma, and practical supports like grocery gift cards and transportation to appointments. Their doors are open to everyone, regardless of income — and no one is turned away because they can't pay.

This is a London story through and through. The founding team are Londoners. The families they serve are Londoners. The partnerships they have built — with LHSC, the Middlesex-London Health Unit, the London InterCommunity Health Centre, Children's Aid Society, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and dozens more — are London's healthcare system working together in the way it should.

Why This Story Matters Now

GROW is growing — but not fast enough to meet demand. They are urgently seeking both financial donations and community volunteers to expand their capacity and reach more families. They have a vision for what more could look like: new mom groups, single-parent meetups, expanded breastfeeding support, evening and weekend drop-in care, and more. What stands between that vision and reality is community awareness and community support.

The London Free Press has always been the paper that tells London's own story back to itself. GROW is one of the best stories London has right now — women leading, communities healing, and a city slowly building something better for the next generation.

Dr. Brenna Kaschor and the GROW team warmly welcome media visits and interviews. I would be happy to connect you.

Thank you for reading — and for the vital role you play in our community.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

Global News London & AM980

Story angle: Breaking news hook / healthcare crisis / community call to action
Suggested subject: Story Pitch: London Clinic Filling the Family Doctor Gap Needs Community Support to Survive and Grow

Dear Global News London / AM980 Team,

I'm writing to bring an urgent and timely local story to your attention.

London is in a primary care crisis. Nearly 1 in 4 residents don't have a family doctor. Emergency departments are strained. New mothers leave hospital without follow-up care. And the specialized services that make the biggest difference for vulnerable families — breastfeeding support, postpartum mental health care, trauma-informed social work — are nowhere to be found unless you can afford to pay for them privately.

Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW) is a London charity and medical clinic that is doing something about it. Founded in 2021 by Dr. Brenna Kaschor — a family physician who built GROW after her own harrowing experience with a high-risk twin pregnancy — GROW provides free and low-cost comprehensive care to London's most vulnerable new parents and young children. Their interdisciplinary team works evenings and weekends, filling the hours when families struggle most and when no other publicly funded support exists.

GROW has built partnerships with London Health Sciences Centre, the Middlesex-London Health Unit, the London InterCommunity Health Centre, and over 20 other community organizations. They receive referrals from hospitals, midwives, police services, walk-in clinics, and the Canadian Mental Health Association — because every part of London's system knows that when a vulnerable family falls through the cracks, GROW is often the net that catches them.

The Urgent Ask

GROW needs London's support right now. They are actively seeking donations and volunteers to expand their capacity and reach more families. Without greater awareness and community investment, the gap they are filling will only grow wider.

This is a story with everything: a local healthcare crisis, a compelling founder, a team of dedicated women professionals, and a concrete way for your listeners and viewers to make a difference in their own community — today.

GROW's team is available for broadcast interviews at short notice. I would be glad to make that connection.

Thank you for keeping London informed. I hope you'll help get the word out.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

Listen to a local podcast you love? We've drafted a pitch for that too.

A local podcast you love

Story angle: Conversational storytelling / community changemaker guest pitch
Suggested subject: Guest Pitch: Dr. Brenna Kaschor — Physician, Founder, and the Woman Rebuilding Healthcare for London's Families

Dear [Podcast Name] Team,

I'm a listener writing in with a guest suggestion I think would make for a genuinely powerful episode.

Dr. Brenna Kaschor is a London family physician and the founder of Grounded Roots, Open Wings (GROW) — a registered charity and medical clinic she built from the ground up in 2021, after her own high-risk twin pregnancy landed her on hospital bedrest for six weeks, followed by an emergency C-section and eight weeks in the NICU. That experience, combined with years of watching childhood trauma repeat across generations in her patients' families, convinced her that the healthcare system wasn't just underfunded — it was fundamentally not designed for the families who needed it most.

So she built something different.

GROW pairs a registered medical clinic with a not-for-profit charity to provide free and low-cost wrap-around care to London's most vulnerable families — lactation support, postpartum mental health care, social work, trauma-informed parenting programs, and practical supports like grocery cards and transportation. All of it is offered on a sliding scale. No one is turned away.

Why Dr. Kaschor makes a great guest:

  • A deeply personal founding story rooted in lived experience and professional conviction
  • A clear, passionate voice on the state of primary care in Ontario and what community-led solutions can look like
  • A tangible local impact story your listeners can actually participate in — through donations, volunteering, and advocacy
  • Compelling, accessible conversation about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), intergenerational trauma, and why the first five years of life matter more than almost anything else

GROW is currently seeking broader community awareness, donations, and volunteers to expand their reach. A podcast feature would make a meaningful difference.

Dr. Kaschor and several GROW team members are available for guest appearances. I would be glad to connect you directly.

Thank you for the work you do in amplifying London voices. I hope GROW earns a spot in your feed.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Neighbourhood, London, Ontario]
[Your Email / Phone]
To learn more about GROW, visit www.groundedrootsopenwings.ca or contact the team at info@groundedrootsopenwings.ca

Fill in the podcast's name and contact details before sending — this one's written to work for whichever show you have in mind.

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