Cash for Cancer takes off for battle
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To David Wharrie, raising funds for healthcare in the Northern Health region could be very simple.
“There are about 250,000 people living in our region,” says the executive director of the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation. “If each person donated $1 a month, we would raise $250,000 each month. Over a year, that’s $3 million.
“Do you think we could make a difference with that money?”
However, Wharrie recognizes that style of fundraising won’t work, so the foundation has to come up with other ideas. This year, it’s the Cash to Fight Cancer lottery. There are 7,777 tickets priced at $100 each, and top prize is $250,000.
“We did this lottery 10 years ago,” Wharrie says, “and we’ve had people buying tickets this year, saying, ‘I wondered when you were going to have another lottery.’”
All of the money raised in the Cash to Fight Cancer lottery will stay in the Northern Health region. Wharrie says how the money is distributed will depend on the needs of the communities in the region.
“We don’t take it and say Prince George gets this much, Mackenzie gets this much, Smithers gets this much. There is a specific process followed by the foundation for the distribution of all our funds.”
He’s quick to add the fund distribution is also not dependent on how many tickets are sold in each area.
“Each centre has its own needs. We don’t go in and say, ‘This is what we want you to spend the money on.’ One area may have had a fundraiser by a different group and bought a specific piece of needed equipment. It doesn’t make sense for us to come in and say they have to use our funds for the same thing.”
With the Northern Health boundaries running from Alexis Creek in the south to the northern border of the province and from the eastern border to the Pacific, there’s a lot of territory to be covered. Wharrie knows the foundation can’t know on its own what the needs of each of the communities in the region are.
“We work with the community and our donors to make a difference in the community. We’re not tackling the big issue of finding a cure for cancer. We invest in what’s needed to care for current cancer patients.
“That’s why we called this the Cash to Fight Cancer lottery. The day you get the diagnosis is the day you start fighting.”
Tickets are available online and www.cashtofightcancer.ca or can be ordered by calling tollfree 1-877-792-7773. They are also available at CIBC branches throughout the North Health region or by visiting the Spirit of the North office at Prince George Regional Hospital.
The draw date is Dec. 19. Besides the $250,000 grand prize, there are four $5,000 prizes, 20 $1,000 prizes and 50 $100 Tim Hortons gift cards to be drawn for.
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