UWindsor student group, selling popcorn to raise money for WRH, exceeds goal by six times

Armaan Saini is shown here at the University of Windsor campus on Feb. 18, 2024. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

A third-year Biomedical Sciences student at the University of Windsor who originally expected to raise around $4,000 for Windsor Regional Hospital by selling popcorn says the student group which he co-founded exceeded their fundraising goal by six times.

Armaan Saini said he founded a university club last September called the “UWindsor Med-Assist Initiative” where members raise funds for different organizations centred around medical equipment needs.

The UWindsor Med-Assist Initiative was co-created by fellow biological sciences student Milan Lobana. The club consists of about 10 other members.

According to Saini, his group partnered with What's Poppin' Popcorn Factory and The Toy Box Early Childhood Learning Centre to sell popcorn to children at the latter's daycare locations.

All the money raised will be donated to the Windsor Regional Hospital Paediatric Ward for medical equipment.

“We did $74,000 in sales. Out of that, we get 25-grand,” Saini said, adding he hoped to raise $4,000 when he started the campaign. “I don't know what the specifics are yet but they're hopefully going to be using it for their oncology unit over there.”

Saini said he plans to make the formal donation sometime next week.

“It was surprising, at first. I started this club in honour of my grandmother who had Parkinson's disease and so it feels great that we're able to help out the community in this way. This is just the start. We'll be doing more in the future as well,” said Saini.

“She was very close to me and she had a lot of medical equipment at home due to her disease. I saw that gap in other families as well and I wanted to fundraise on behalf of that.”

Saini told CTV News he couldn’t believe how much money was raised during the three-week campaign, hoping it inspires others to help their community as well.

“I was shocked when we heard about the amount of money we raised. When I was in talks with Anna Raymond, the owner of the Toy Box daycares and her daughter Gabby Raymond, we were initially expecting three to four thousand in profit that we were going to donate," he said.

"We did $25,000 which is insane. It just shocked me.”