Chocolate chip cookies with icing will tempt taste buds, bring smiles and assist in raising dough this week for the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation.
Smile Cookies are on sale Tim Hortons in Nanaimo until Sunday, May 7, and all money raised will go toward equipment for the high-acuity unit at Nanaimo Regional District Hospital, as well as projects related to the intensive care unit. A kickoff event took place at the Rock City Centre Tim Hortons on Tuesday, May 2, with Barney Ellis-Perry and Tony Harris, chief executive officer and board chairperson of the foundation, respectively, icing cookies.
Ellis-Perry said where the money will be allocated will be determined at a later date.
“We will do that with the Tim Hortons folks when the time comes,” he said. “We have this incredibly long list of equipment; I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a bed because a bed is $50,000. We are hoping this promotion will hit $50,000 this year, so it could be something like that. A ventilator is $45,000 … so we’ll work with that.”
Harris said the foundation is pleased to receive support from community initiatives such as these.
“The … foundation supports all of the equipment needs for the health eco-system in this region. It’s wonderful work that the foundation does and to be able to engage our entire community in a way to give back, that ultimately touches them and their families, it’s the whole circle of philanthropy that we’re so excited to be a part of,” he said.
Smile Cookies are $1.50 plus tax. More than $45,000 was raised last year.
The intensive care unit will open in June and the high-acuity unit is anticipated to open in September 2024.
READ ALSO: High-acuity unit now being built at Nanaimo hospital
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