Foundation highlights over the years

Here’s some highlights for the Riverside Foundation for Health Care over the past 20 years, starting with its incorporation on Sept. 25, 1997.
The founding board of directors included Clare Brunetta, Joan Allison, Doug Anderson, Dave Berry, Larry Cousineau, Jim Gartshore, Jack McTaggart, Irene Meades, Wendy Frattolin, and Paul Brown.
•The special events committee hosted its first-annual gala on Feb. 27, 1998 at La Place Rendez-Vous, with entertainment provided by Mood Indigo (it raised $24,000.
•In 1999, Teresa Hazel was hired as Foundation director and the “Buy a Brick–Build it Quick” campaign for the Rainy River Health Centre raised more than $300,000.
•The “Care Close to Home” campaign for two major renovation projects at La Verendrye Hospital in Fort Frances and the Emo Health Centre kicked off in June, 2000 under the chairmanship of John McTaggart (the La Verendrye Hospital Auxiliary announced the lead gift with a pledge of $500,000).
•On March 4, 2001, the “Care Close to Home” campaign surpassed its goal of $3.8 million.
•In 2002, the Foundation established the James and Ena McAughren Bursary Fund for the continuing education of nurses, thanks to a bequest from the McAughren Estate.
•In memoriam gifts totalled $50,000 in 2003.
•Phase IV construction at La Verendrye Hospital broke ground on March 28, 2004.
The renovations, which would take two years to complete and partially were funded by the “Care Close to Home” drive, included new emergency rooms, waiting rooms, operating rooms, labs, and an X-ray department, as well as re-locating the dialysis unit, having a specific area for chemotherapy, and an area for a computerized tomography (CT) imaging unit which the hospital would get in the future.
•As of 2004, the Tom Bruyere Walk for Dialysis had raised $50,000 in five years.
•The Phase IV construction project held its grand opening in 2006, which also saw the “Just Imagine” campaign kick off under the chairmanship of Deane Cunningham to raise more than $1.6 million for a CT scanner at La Verendrye Hospital by the following year.
•In 2008, the Foundation’s board of directors expanded to include a Rainycrest Long-term Care Auxiliary representative, while in 2009, one highlight of the year was an anonymous donation of $70,000.
•Hazel announced her resignation in 2010, with Nicke Baird assuming the role of Foundation director.
•In 2011, an endowment fund was established thanks to a gift of $100,000.
•Under the chairmanship of Jan Beazley, the “Together We Can” campaign kicked off in 2012 to raise more than $650,000 in a few short months for a new digital mammography unit.
•In 2013, the “Cowboys and Lace” gala at the Emo Arena raised more than $30,000.
•Current director Samantha Manty was hired in 2014. The annual spring luncheon raised more than $9,000 in only two hours.
•The Christmas appeal in 2015 raised more than $34,000 for a new shower room at Rainycrest.
•In 2016, the Estate of Lillian Newman, a long-time supporter of the Foundation, bequeathed $500,000.
•This year, the Foundation held its 20th-annual gala, with tickets selling out three weeks in advance.