Five friends join forces to encourage donations toward new St. Catharines hospital
For Karl Regier, the trips to Hamilton were proof enough. Something has to change.
The 29-year-old St. Catharines man has had to make regular trips to a Hamilton hospital where his father recently underwent quadruple bypass surgery.
How much better, Regier says, if his father could have been treated in St. Catharines?
“It’s the same with cancer. I don’t want to drive that far to visit someone I know who has cancer, and I am sure they wouldn’t want to go that far either,” the Garden City real estate agent says. “It can be a real ordeal for families. It just makes more sense to have those kinds of services here.”
So when Regier’s friend Adam Shields suggested putting together a group of like-minded young businessmen to raise money for the new St. Catharines hospital, he jumped at the chance.
“I appreciate that someone like my dad would still have to go to Hamilton, but this is for the cancer treatment and the other wonderful things that will be in that hospital,” Regier says.
Shields, co-publisher and general manager of the Business Link, said he became aware of the effort to raise money for the hospital through his father, who is part of the Niagara Health System Foundation’s St. Catharines fundraising committee.
It occurred to him that local business people — those in their late 20s and into their 30s — should take some ownership over what happens in their community.
“I think it’s important for people to take responsibility and give back to the community that we’re a part of,” he says. “We don’t have the deepest pockets necessarily, but we can get together more people who can donate smaller amounts to make a difference.”
The group of five St. Catharines men — which includes David Napper, 32, Shaun Lichtenberger, 29, and Chris Sinclair, 26 — will meet next month to map out a plan to raise money for the hospital project.
“It can be done with the right message,” Napper said. “Consider that Molson Canadian ad. The “I am Canadian” ads. With one simple, smart message a beer company brought Canadians together in a way that Trudeau never did.
“We can do the same thing, obviously differently, with a different message. But I think we can bring the whole community together to support this.”
The NHS foundation’s “It’s Our Time” campaign wants to raise $40 million for Niagara hospitals. Some $19.8 million will be used for the new St. Catharines hospital and cancer centre to be built at Fourth Avenue and First Street. Another $5.2 million will be used for equipment upgrades at St. Catharines General.
The rest of the funds will go to the other hospitals in Niagara.
The 375-bed facility will replace the St. Catharines General and the NHS facility on Ontario Street.
The hospital is to be built by the Plenary Group. A British trade magazine recently pegged the cost at $600 million.
However, no official tally has been announced and Plenary is still in the process of finalizing financing for the project.
Bill Hallett, president and CEO of the foundation, says fundraising has been going well. To date just more than $25 million of the $40-million goal has been raised.
He said the campaign will take on an increasingly public profile in the new year. So far, the campaign has been in what he called “its quiet phase,” where the foundation approaches donors with very deep pockets who can contribute $100,000 or more.
“That means we have $15 million left to raise, which is a much more manageable figure for a community to raise,” Hallett says.
However, Hallett casts a cautious eye toward 2009, given the poor state of the economy. Most of the money raised to date came in by late summer, before the serious downturn he says, and it’s unclear how philanthropy will be affected.
Which is why he is encouraged by the efforts of Shields and friends.
“I think that kind of effort is just fantastic,” he said.
Shields said the group has yet to set a fundraising goal, or settle on a strategy. That will come early in the new year.
But, the group of five men are clear about one thing — it’s time for their generation to step up and contribute.
For more about the NHS foundation go online to: www.itsourtimecampaign.com.
The 29-year-old St. Catharines man has had to make regular trips to a Hamilton hospital where his father recently underwent quadruple bypass surgery.
How much better, Regier says, if his father could have been treated in St. Catharines?
“It’s the same with cancer. I don’t want to drive that far to visit someone I know who has cancer, and I am sure they wouldn’t want to go that far either,” the Garden City real estate agent says. “It can be a real ordeal for families. It just makes more sense to have those kinds of services here.”
So when Regier’s friend Adam Shields suggested putting together a group of like-minded young businessmen to raise money for the new St. Catharines hospital, he jumped at the chance.
“I appreciate that someone like my dad would still have to go to Hamilton, but this is for the cancer treatment and the other wonderful things that will be in that hospital,” Regier says.
Shields, co-publisher and general manager of the Business Link, said he became aware of the effort to raise money for the hospital through his father, who is part of the Niagara Health System Foundation’s St. Catharines fundraising committee.
It occurred to him that local business people — those in their late 20s and into their 30s — should take some ownership over what happens in their community.
“I think it’s important for people to take responsibility and give back to the community that we’re a part of,” he says. “We don’t have the deepest pockets necessarily, but we can get together more people who can donate smaller amounts to make a difference.”
The group of five St. Catharines men — which includes David Napper, 32, Shaun Lichtenberger, 29, and Chris Sinclair, 26 — will meet next month to map out a plan to raise money for the hospital project.
“It can be done with the right message,” Napper said. “Consider that Molson Canadian ad. The “I am Canadian” ads. With one simple, smart message a beer company brought Canadians together in a way that Trudeau never did.
“We can do the same thing, obviously differently, with a different message. But I think we can bring the whole community together to support this.”
The NHS foundation’s “It’s Our Time” campaign wants to raise $40 million for Niagara hospitals. Some $19.8 million will be used for the new St. Catharines hospital and cancer centre to be built at Fourth Avenue and First Street. Another $5.2 million will be used for equipment upgrades at St. Catharines General.
The rest of the funds will go to the other hospitals in Niagara.
The 375-bed facility will replace the St. Catharines General and the NHS facility on Ontario Street.
The hospital is to be built by the Plenary Group. A British trade magazine recently pegged the cost at $600 million.
However, no official tally has been announced and Plenary is still in the process of finalizing financing for the project.
Bill Hallett, president and CEO of the foundation, says fundraising has been going well. To date just more than $25 million of the $40-million goal has been raised.
He said the campaign will take on an increasingly public profile in the new year. So far, the campaign has been in what he called “its quiet phase,” where the foundation approaches donors with very deep pockets who can contribute $100,000 or more.
“That means we have $15 million left to raise, which is a much more manageable figure for a community to raise,” Hallett says.
However, Hallett casts a cautious eye toward 2009, given the poor state of the economy. Most of the money raised to date came in by late summer, before the serious downturn he says, and it’s unclear how philanthropy will be affected.
Which is why he is encouraged by the efforts of Shields and friends.
“I think that kind of effort is just fantastic,” he said.
Shields said the group has yet to set a fundraising goal, or settle on a strategy. That will come early in the new year.
But, the group of five men are clear about one thing — it’s time for their generation to step up and contribute.
For more about the NHS foundation go online to: www.itsourtimecampaign.com.
posted by Duncan Ley at 7:16 AM
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