Community Celebrates $25.2M Success
March 28 was no ordinary day at Royal Jubilee Hospital. With news cameras rolling, musicians performing, and firefighters rappelling down the side of the Patient Care Centre, the Jim Pattison Atrium and Concourse was buzzing as more than 100 community members celebrated the conclusion of the Building Care Together campaign.
The campaign launched in a similarly exciting fashion in January 2011 with a goal of raising $25 million dollars. Three years later, after receiving gifts from more than 3,500 donors, Building Care Together surpassed its goal, reaching $25,200,000!
The day began with emcee Hudson Mack welcoming everyone and Mary Ann Thomas from the Esquimalt First Nation providing a blessing. Next the crowd enjoyed a performance by world-renowned harpist Julia Cunningham and multi-talented Victoria musician Daniel Lapp, before Victoria Hospitals Foundation Board Chair Alan Lowe and Building Care Together Campaign Chair Leslee Farrell took the stage.
“This is a wonderful day for our community, and the patients and their families who rely on the world-class care delivered in this hospital,” said Farrell, as she and Lowe revealed the campaign’s final total. “Thank you to each and every donor for helping us not only achieve, but surpass, this monumental goal.”
The crowd also heard from Island Health Board Member Frank Carson, Island Health President and CEO Dr. Brendan Carr, and BC business leader Jim Pattison, who matched $5 million in donations through his Community Matching Gift Challenge.
“It has been my great pleasure to support the extraordinary medical teams here at the Royal Jubilee by enhancing their technology and equipment,” said Pattison. “This community, in just six short months, came together to raise a phenomenal amount of money to ensure the Community Matching Gift Challenge was a complete success.”
Things got exciting when Victoria Firefighters dramatically rappelled down the eight-storey Patient Care Centre to unfurl a 30-foot banner thanking the community for their donations. The event concluded with a moving musical performance by singer Georgia Murray, who covered Ricky Skaggs’ ‘Thanks Again’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’.
With Building Care Together now complete, the Victoria Hospitals Foundation offers our deepest thanks to everyone who supported this campaign. Our new hospital is a world leader in patient care and our medical staff are working with the best possible equipment of your gifts. To the 3,500 community leaders, businesses, and caring citizens that made this happen, thank you!
