Radio personality John “Byrd” Kempf will be returning to Fort Frances to help launch the Riverside Foundation for Health Care’s “Care Close to Home” fundraising campaign June 15-16.
“Teresa Hazel gave me a ring . . . we went to school together a long time ago,” Kempf said today from Philadelphia, where he’s the morning show host for rock station WRDX.
“She heard what I had been doing with my life and she asked me if I would come back to help out with the Riverside health care campaign,” he added. “I jumped at the chance.”
Kempf noted the “Care Close to Home” campaign is raising money to help fund renovations at the Emo Health Centre and La Verendrye hospital, including the operating/emergency rooms, diagnostic imaging areas, and the cancer unit.
“Having lost a lot of friends and family to cancer over the years . . . it meant a lot to me to help out,” he said.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is funding $4.8 million of the $8.3-million project–leaving an additional $3.5 million to be raised locally.
“As far as donating goes, right now I am donating my time. I plan donate money . . . I don’t know if I can donate all the $3.5 million but I plan to donate, yes,” Kempf said.
Hazel, who is director of the Foundation, said the “Care Close to Home” campaign officially began in January but the public launch gets underway next Thursday and Friday with the “stretcher push” from Rainy River to Fort Frances.
John McTaggart, chairman of fundraising efforts for the Foundation, said the campaign’s mandate is to raise $3.5 million within the next four months for a commitment which will be paid over the next five years.
“The ‘Care Close to Home’ campaign will wrap up at the end of September,” he noted. “We are asking businesses and the community to donate.
“You have the option to pay in one lump sum, or over the next five years . . . we will work it out any way we can with the person who wishes to donate,” he stressed.
Hazel has no doubt the $3.5-million goal will be met by the end of the summer.
“With the group of recruited volunteers and support that has been demonstrated from the community on other projects, I am sure we will meet our goal,” she said.
Kempf, who is originally from Fort Frances and got his start at CFOB here, said he’s not opposed to doing something outrageous to get people’s attention for charitable groups.
“You need to step above the din that goes on in people’s everyday life,” he noted. “I plan to be a stretcher pusher. I do plan to split my time between doing call-ins to CFOB and participating in the event.”
Meanwhile, Hazel is encouraging people to come out and see the support they’ve received from the community. “It makes the event that much more exciting,” she enthused.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
