People of Sudbury come through for hospice in a big way

Radio fundraiser for Sudbury hospice huge success Organizers of a Maison McCulloch Hospice fundraiser on Pure Country 91.7 hoped to raise $25,000. They got $152,000. Molly Frommer reports.

The Maison McCulloch Hospice in Sudbury teamed up with CTV News’ sister radio station, Pure Country 91.7, on Wednesday to host the first-ever Care-a-Thon to help raise some much-needed funds, and the community stepped up in a big way.

Officials with the hospice foundation had a goal of reaching $25,000, and after six hours on the air, the goal was greatly surpassed.

“We have to raise $63,000 a month to keep the doors open, and guess what? The community of Sudbury (contributed) a $152,415! That’s historic! There is a benchmark of generosity that speaks well of the people of Sudbury and their love of the hospice,” said Gerry Lougheed, chairperson for Maison McCulloch Hospice Foundation.

Our partners at Pure Country 91.7, also owned by Bell Media, co-hosted the live event from their station on Elm Street and say the response was unbelievable.

“I’ve seen the generosity of the city before, but this by far blows that out of the park. Unbelievable! I mean we went into this thing aiming to raise $25,000 and I would have been happy if we hit that mark and we did early on. But to raise a $152,000, I’m literally speechless,” said Bryan Cooper, Pure Country morning show host.

Cooper promised the audience to get his hair cut in a “Blake Shelton mullet” if they raised enough money. And Wednesday afternoon, he displayed the new hairdo on social media.

One of the donations received was from a local company called Makami Engineering, who generously donated $25,000.

“We decided, partly because we have a family member in the hospice, and so like everybody else mentions, cancer and they are lovingly taking care of him and that’s been the awesome part of it. And we got to see first-hand what it’s all about and it’s been fantastic,” said Andrea Nichol, of Makami Engineering.

Lougheed says the number of donations that came in is shocking.

“I don’t think there has ever been a Care-a-Thon before that in six hours, from six in the morning to 12-noon, that $25,000an hour plus is behind generated. The thing that I couldn’t get over was we had everything from $10 donations to in fact Walden Mechanical giving us $10,000, all on the telephone,” said the foundation chairperson.

Officials with the hospice foundation say with the outpouring of support, there will definitely be a second Care-a-Thon event next year.

They say donations are still being accepted, so the total will end up being much higher.

Both CTV News Northern Ontario & Pure Country 91.7 are divisions of Bell Media