The Spirit of the North Day, a four hour recognition event and fundraiser for the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation was held April 11, 2010 and the Foundation recognized $2,139,720.00 in donations.

CKPG TV viewers were able to watch “What’s Cooking”, and the Foundation replaced the commercial breaks with updates, pledges and presentations regarding donations that are helping to build University Hospital of Northern BC into a centre for healthcare excellence for northern BC.

The special areas of interest included the up-grades to the surgical suites that the Foundation has pledged $1.8 million toward. These upgrades and other changes and improvements in the ambulatory care and diagnostics areas are going to help UNHBC get ready for the arrival of the Northern Cancer Clinic in 2012.

Major donors included:
Auxiliary to PGRH ($160,577.68)
PG Firefighters – Harley Raffle ($70,000)
Costco Wholesale ($67,563.00)
Scotiabank ($11,500)
Tim Hortons – Smile Cookie Campaign ($22,196.28)
BMO-Bank of Montreal ($10,438.80)
Spectra Energy ($15,000)
Women of the Moose ($5,600)
Spruce City Lions Club ($16,000)
RBC Foundation ($5,000)
TD Bank Financial Group ($6,269.62)

We also presented Cathy Ulrich, Chief Executive Officer of Northern Health with a cheque for ($1,351,333.12) and Margaret Sadlon, Health Service Administrator from Quesnel Health Services with a cheque for ($59,420.14), representing funds raised and given to Northern Health during the last year.

“This is the 10th Annual Spirit of the North Day and it was a wonderful day of recognition for our supporters and donors. We are delighted to recognize so many members of the community who have come together to show their support. The donations we recognized today came from individuals, families, corporations and community groups that are committed to improving healthcare in our community.” said Debie Byl, Fund Development Officer “We owe a great debt of gratitude to CKPG TV for allowing us this opportunity to recognize and up-date our donors.”