Radiothon Reflections…

Yarmouth Hospital Foundation’s We Care Radiothon 2022  was an incredible success — but it was one of the most unusual events that the Foundation has ever had. Now, looking back over all that was accomplished, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on things: not just the bustle and work, but on the ways in which our donors and community keep surprising us with just how much you all do care.

When Omicron hit Nova Scotia after we sent out the Radiothon ‘save the date’ cards, we realized that we were in a pickle. We needed to put some protections in place for our community, and do whatever we could to keep our donors & volunteers safe. This led to the decision to hold first-ever all-virtual event, a month after our usual date! What would an ‘all-virtual’ Radiothon look like? No one was exactly certain, but our intrepid committee put on their thinking caps and rose to the challenge — as did our presenting sponsor, Y95.5. When we came to them with a request to change the date from February to March, they didn’t bat an eye. So, March it became.

We also launched some new initiatives to engage with our community since we couldn’t just invite you all to join us in the hospital lobby — again. Our Trivia Contest was so much fun and so interesting — who could have imagined that Yarmouth Regional Hospital did sooo much laundry every day? Or that our hard-working Environmental Services workers use, on average, fifty (50!) pairs of disposable gloves a day — and dispenses 144 rolls of paper towels a week! We also can’t forget how our first-ever online Auction was the source of much excitement thanks to the generous prizes we had donated and the buzz around the bidding!

Talking of donors, it was amazing to see so many returning sponsors and community partners who had been generous with their donations stepping up to be official sponsors this year. With Yarmouth Hospital Foundation’s We Care Radiothon as our sole remaining major fundraising event, some of the sponsors of our other events ‘jumped ship’ to come and support Radiothon, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Yarmouth Mall also rose to the occasion for us, letting us have retail space for another year to host our phone room, social media station and all the general business of running the back end of Radiothon.

And you, our donors, our community, you showed up — as you always do — in an incredible way. There’s still an electric current in the Foundation office every time we think about it: $178,000+! What a total! What generosity! It shows us just how much people of the Tri-Counties support their regional hospital and want to step up to make an impact on healthcare. And you are making such a difference.

Thank you.