Share this Story: COVID-19 cancellations require fundraising creativity in Saugeen Shores
COVID-19 cancellations require fundraising creativity in Saugeen Shores
Frances Learment
Apr 27, 2020 • May 1, 2020 • 2 minute read
The 'Cruise for Healthcare' fundraiser for Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation will not set sail for Alaska in May next year, another COVID-19 fundraising casualty. Photo by Submitted
The "Cruise for Healthcare" will not set sail for Alaska in May next year, another local fundraising casualty of COVID-19 uncertainty.
It was planned as a Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation fundraiser, but organizers said April 27 that it's better to air on the side of caution and not promote travel during this time.
COVID-19 cancellations require fundraising creativity in Saugeen Shores Back to video
Cancellation of events like the Lake Huron Gran Fondo – which generated approximately $200,000 for the Foundation last year – will force the Foundation to be a "little more creative" to make up the COVID-19 shortfalls, according to Foundation executive director Tracy Murray.
Last year the Foundation raised approximately $700,000 to buy hospital equipment, and now they will have to be inventive to fund those funds, realizing that many businesses and residents may not have money for charitable donations at this time.
"We will certainly work as hard as we can to find the funds to buy what we can, and we'll start with whatever is the top priority and work our way down," Murray said in an April 27 telephone interview.
The $700,000 generated by the Foundation last year helped buy everything from morgue, lab and surgical equipment, flooring, new beds, IT equipment, and some went to the MRI machine campaign, Murray said.
The Foundation is also looking ahead to what COVID-19 might mean to its annual holiday Light the Way campaign – including a radiothon – that raised $270,000 last year in Saugeen Shores.
"We thought this year that the Rotary Huron Shore Gran Fondo would bring us $30,000, and we have third party events that bring in funds, and a large chunk (of cash) comes from In Memoriams and general donations," Murray said.
While they aren't "scrambling, they are letting go of pre-planned events and trying to come up with new ways to work with and support the community and raise funds.
And, so far, it has been amazing, Murray said.
"When this all started we had no idea what we'd been facing in the public. We thought that people would be scared and uncertain about their health and finances, but they are really stepping up and buying lottery tickets, making cash donations and donations of personal protective equipment for health care workers," she said, noting that RBC Meeting Place Port Elgin donated its sponsorship funds for the cruise fundraiser, despite the cancellation.