The 12th annual Care from the Heart Day Radio-a-thon raised over $298,000. (Photo: Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation on Facebook)

By Justin Goulet

Radio-a-thon raises close to $300,000 for CRH Foundation

Feb 11, 2022 | 10:49 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The 12^th annual Care from the Heart Day Radio-a-thon was a major success.

The initiative, which ran on February 10, helped raise funds for the Chinook Regional Hospital (CRH) Foundation, with money going towards addressing needs in priority areas at the Lethbridge hospital.

Radio stations in the city, including Today’s Country 95.5 and All-Hits B93 hosted healthcare professionals on-air to hear how donations have made an impact on the community over the years.

READ MORE: Radio-a-thon raising funds to address priority needs at Chinook Regional Hospital

In all, more than $298,000 was raised, surpassing the foundation’s goal of $275,000 and topping last year’s total of $263,000.

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Development Officer with the CRH Foundation, Shonna Lamb, told Lethbridge News Now that the money raised this year is the highest amount ever for the annual Radio-a-thon. She said the foundation is “truly overwhelmed by the support shown in our community.”

“Just around four o’clock yesterday [Thursday, Feb. 10] is when we surpassed that goal and to continue to see that, you know, great amount of support pour in towards the end of the day to take us to nearly $300,000 is incredible. It’s more than we could have hoped for.”

Donations will help expand the areas of care the Chinook Regional Hospital can provide and bring in new equipment, technologies and expertise to Lethbridge.

Lamb said, “all of this money that’s raised in a year with us and including this event all goes back into the hospital, so it’s seen at patient level.”

“So the different areas that we fund and we support, whether it’s surgery, whether it’s addictions and mental health, whether we’re funding some of the agility projects to maneuver with the pandemic, NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] – the donations all go back into the hospital so the care and the services that are provided, the technology that’s accessed is the highest possible for our community, so there’s not an area or a department of our hospital that isn’t affected in some way by the donations brought in each year.”

She noted that people still wanting to donate can do so online until the end of the month here, or by calling the CRH Foundation at 403-388-6001.

Lamb noted that the day of the Radio-a-thon saw a mix of donations come through.

“We see corporate donations, so sometimes in the spirit of friendly competition, we see different corporate challenges take place, but the donations of the day are also comprised of those, like, five, 10, 20 dollar [donations] from the individuals.”

She said, “the community has been supportive of us for decades and we’ve really seen that support come through in the last couple of years during the challenging pandemic that we’ve been in.”

“We truly just want to offer genuine thanks to everyone who supports the hospital and the foundation and the work that gets done here. We’re thankful that we are so well supported by the community here in southern Alberta.”

The CRH Foundation’s executive director Allan Bartolcic said, “the community continues to come together as we are extremely thankful for everyone’s contribution; the success is all because of you.”

Honorary Chair for the event, Bob Balog added, “thank you again for the overwhelming support; the ongoing generosity of our community humbles me.”

More on the CRH Foundation is available here.