St. Joseph's Hospital is still feeling the impact of the recent Radiothon for Life, which raised a significant amount for the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation. A total of $252,044.32 was collected during the day of the Radiothon. The event supported their MRI project, which aims to bring a new machine to serve the southeast.
Additional donations have come in since the event, with Executive Director Lori Gervais reviewing how much more has been raised.
"We are now at $271,893. We do what we can that day. We have people donating online, stopping by. We had a couple of fantastic, generously huge donations come in, so that really upped our total. I had phone calls the next morning saying, 'Oh gosh, I missed it yesterday, count this,' and donations are continuing to come in online."
Receiving so much money toward their $6.5 million goal has been thrilling for Gervais, though the full feeling of that community support is hard to fathom.
"I don't think it has sunk in because I find it really amazing that that's where we're at. So, to actually say along the way that we are less than a million dollars to go, I mean, you hoped it would happen at some point, but to be here this quickly, I never expected."
Since the start of the project, when Elaine Walkom donated $2 million, Gervais says they have had many discussions around where they would be at this point.
As the project has progressed throughout the southeast, there has been growing optimism for the new machine.
"We started this campaign with Together We Can, and we reached out across Southeast Saskatchewan to let everybody know the project was a go and to really share Elaine Walkom's generosity and her persistence, and to let everybody know that this is the goal: $6.5 million to have an MRI here in Saskatchewan."
After several successful fundraisers, including the Radiothon for Life, Festival of Trees, and others, Gervais says they are embracing a new confidence with the project.
"We're still in that project, but we've kind of come along to where now it's Together We Will, because we've seen that the entire community, the entire Southeast corner, is behind us and they are supporting us. So, Together We Will, we are promising to do this."
A charitable spirit has always been integral in the southeast, and Gervais says that spirit has played a big part in fundraising.
"Forever, we've had situations where people pass away and their families, or maybe they had let their wishes be known, that in lieu of flowers or things for the family, often people will say donate to a charity of your choice, and the MRI has been a big, big part of all of that."
More events are scheduled to support the MRI project, with Gervais looking to make sure there's plenty to do to help the cause.
"Right now, you can go online to sjhf.org and see a couple of our events. We've got the e-bike raffle generously donated by the Estevan Market Mall. We'll do that draw on June 18 at our charity barbecue at CARSTAR Auto."
"We also have a Golf the Southeast package," said Gervais. "We've got 12 different golf courses around the Southeast that generously donated golfing and golf cart rounds. So, we have tickets available online, and you can stop by my office anytime, but you certainly can check out the posters around town or go to our sjhf.org and check all that out."
The Elks Club of Estevan will also hold a golf tournament to support the MRI project later this summer.
Gervais said that with continued community support, they are still accepting donations, and the totals will continue to be updated on their website.