On May 14, Creston Valley Shrine Club No. 35 president Derick Todd, past-president Henry Schoof and hospital representative Les MacDougall were proud to present a $3,510.10 cheque to Creston Valley Hospital site manager Chris Ondrik. The Shriners donation will assist the hospital in purchasing care related items for pediatric and neonatal services.
The presentation of the cheque was due in a large part to the fundraising efforts conducted by members of the Shrine Club. Over the past year-and-a-half, funds were mainly raised by selling popcorn, but donations were received at many local events, such as the annual Creston Valley Home and Garden Show, Creston Valley Blossom Festival parade, Dash-for-Trash, Canada Day celebrations and the Creston Valley Fall Fair, as well as through gaming fund contributions.
The club would also like to acknowledge the following benefactors: Regional District of Central Kootenay Area B director John Kettle and Area C director Larry Binks, Overwaitea Foods manager Char Stunder and Creston and District Community Complex concession vendor Calvin Germann. All of these gifts have contributed to making this donation possible and were greatly appreciated.
The main aim of the Shrine Club is to help children with various physical ailments requiring treatment that is not a part of the normal coverage of the provincial medical plan. Many children in the Creston Valley have been recipients of such aid, whether they received no-charge treatments at one of the local Shrine hospitals in Spokane, Wash., or Portland, Ore., or free transportation to and from nearby childrens’ hospitals in Vancouver or Calgary. The child’s welfare is uppermost when considering requests and under no circumstance does the child need to be related to a Shriner to qualify for services.
For transportation purposes, the Shriners organization in B.C. has six Care Cruisers, which are buses that are fully equipped with the latest medical equipment. Each Care Cruiser is the equivalent of a mobile hospital room that transports the special needs child and their family from their home to and from any hospital facility that is treating them, at no cost to the family. The most recent addition to the fleet stopped in Creston last year. Many locals were able to see how special these vehicles are when carrying such precious cargo as a child in need.
If you have or know of a child who may benefit from this medical aid, please contact Les MacDougall at 250-428-7536 for more information.
If you have an upcoming local event that would benefit from having the Shriners sell popcorn, please phone George Fraser at 250- 402-6734 or Derick Todd at 250-866-6882.
For more information, visit shriners.bc.ca, shrinersinternational.com or crestonlodge.org.
—CRESTON VALLEY SHRINE CLUB