Plans to improve health centres in Saskatchewan are forming as a new donation to The Health Foundation will assist to fund a new Yorkton hospital.
According to a release from The Health Foundation, Jack Wruth and Doris Shank of Re/Max Blue Chip Realty announced on November 4 that they will be donating a house valued at $169,900 to the organization.
“We decided to give this house to The Health Foundation for a number of reasons. Key among those would be that we think the work the Foundation does is very important for everyone who lives in this area. The work they do improves health care services for everyone who lives in this region,” said Wruth.
“The other key reason we decided to donate this house is that we all know a new regional hospital is coming to Yorkton; we can all see it is needed. The existing hospital is old and out of date. It was not built to deliver the type of health care provided today. “We wanted to help the Foundation move the process forward, to help them create awareness of the need for a new hospital, and to help them begin the fundraising that will be needed,” continued Wruth.
“We have suggested to The Health Foundation that it could use the house to establish a lottery with the house as the first prize. A lottery will raise money and provide the opportunity to raise awareness for the new hospital at the same time. Our team of agents can help to market the lottery, and we have billboards and other marketing tools that will be useful and we will make available to the Foundation,” said Wruth.
“This is an amazing donation and the largest one-time donation we’ve received from individuals in almost 20 years. We are very grateful to Mr. Wruth and Mrs. Shank for their generosity. We also want to thank Jack and Doris for their thoughtfulness, because this is a donation that keeps on giving as it provides us opportunity for the future,” said Ross Fisher, executive director of The Health Foundation.
“Mr. Wruth is correct in that we need to advance the campaign for a new hospital, both with the public and with the government. Our board reviewed this generous donation and it agrees that the best thing we can do with this wonderful new house is make it the first prize in a new lottery The Health Foundation will launch in 2017,” continued Fisher.
“We have moved forward with plans for a house lottery, and have submitted an application for a lottery license. We will announce details for the lottery at a later date, however, we do expect to have tickets available for Christmas,” said Fisher.
“We have been supporters and sponsors of the work of The Health Foundation for many years now,” said Wruth. “We have watched how members conduct themselves and have seen the results of the efforts of the Foundation. We believe they will manage this donation wisely and to the benefit of the community.”
“Doris and I, and our team here at Re/Max look forward to working with the Foundation on its new venture, an exciting house lottery.”
