RENFREW — The women of the Renfrew Victoria Hospital Auxiliary are very cheerful about raising close to $9,000 for the hospital’s new Solarium, part of the Healing Garden project.
Their most recent raffle, Wheelbarrows of Cheer, was a complete sellout.
The winning tickets were pulled on Wednesday, December 14 in the new Auxiliary Solarium during a small reception attended by Auxiliary volunteers and prize sponsors.
“All money raised goes towards our five-year $250,000 commitment to this beautiful new room,” said RVH Auxiliary President Shauna Lemenchick. “We are very fortunate to have a place such as this for our patients and families to come to spend time in.”
The new fundraising idea was to sell tickets for one wheelbarrow filled with a few bottles of wine, but it grew to three sought-after prizes: two overflowing wheelbarrows and a bar fridge fully stocked with holiday cheer.
“We never really expected such a great response from everybody,” Ms. Lemenchick said as she thanked the 25 sponsors for their generous support.
Auxiliary member Audrey Green told the story of how it all snowballed: “I went to Canadian Tire and ran into Bill Kenopic (the owner) and asked if he could maybe donate the wheelbarrow and he said, ‘Where’s your car?’ And that, believe it or not is how this whole thing took off.”
Ms. Green reported that the volunteers managed to sell all 2,500 tickets and raise $8,900 towards their pledge to the hospital.
Randy Penney, RVH President and CEO, drew the lucky ticket holder’s name for the Grand Prize valued at $1,500: Dan Pollock from Ashton, Ontario.
Second prize went to Vincent Johnson from Renfrew, and Christy O’Connor from Haley Station won the third prize.
“On behalf of the hospital and the Foundation, I would like to thank our Auxiliary and the sponsors that have stepped up to the plate once again,” commented Mr. Penney. “We are totally dependent upon local fundraising to be able to have a building like this. It really is our patients and their families who are going to benefit from your efforts. Throughout the years, our Auxiliary has always been there to support the hospital in so many different ways, such a classy organization!”
