Rick Rake

Taking the Lede with $2.5 million namesake donation

 

As of today,  Abbotsford Canuck Place raised $9.8 million towards its second-phase target of $13 million for its children's hospice.

Making the news even sweeter, Dave Lede added $2.5 million from his family charitable foundation.

Now the 30,000-square-foot children's hospice I've been talking about in my last two blogs will be called the Abbotsford Canuck Place Dave Lede House.

 
I met Dave Lede and his son Richard (above) at the Canuck Place campaign launch this morning at the west end of the Campus of Care site (at the hole where the hospice will be built).  Both guys are remarkably humble and wonderful to talk to. Dave heads the Ledcor Group of Companies which is building Canuck Place in Abbotsford.

 
More than 100 people attending the announcement, some of the most generous in the community, were thrilled with Dave Lede's donation (as Canuck Place communications and marketing director Thomas Marshall directed traffic for the media).  Canuck Place enthusiasts may recognize hospice board chair John Rose (far left) and CEO Filomena Nalewajek.

 
Abbotsford Mayor George Peary shared his delight with the audience and even bowed deeply like a Judo master in honour of Dave's incredible generosity.

 
It took a lot of work to plan the on-location announcement that included tours of the site where Canuck Place will be nestled among mature trees.

 
More signage was unveiled . . .

 
More pictures were snapped . . .

The crowd listened patiently ... then dispersed.

 

Fundraising is just beginning publicly for Abbotsford Canuck Place.

The fun continues ... and social media rock stars like Kristi Ferguson, Caree Bray, Danielle Knowles, Teri-Lyn Conrad and their hard-working Fraser Valley Twestival crew are planning an event at Langley Cascades Casino on Thursday, March 24.

Click here for all the details and to buy tickets.  A podcast interview on the event can be heard here.  They will tell you in their own words what spectacular Twestival food and entertainment is on tap.

Cheers.

 

Dreamers

Sometimes I like to dream.

I think my wife Kathleen does, too.

Today we ventured into downtown Vancouver for a number of reasons, one of them to explore the B.C. Children's Hospital lottery prize condo on Smithe Street near the Orpheum.

 While waiting for the lottery people to open the doors, we sat on a bench outside the Vita Symphony Place entry and just soaked in the atmosphere of the neighbourhood.

Uva, a wine bar and restaurant, was right across the street.

Funny that . . . Kathleen (with her blog at www.betweenthevines.ca) is a perpetual student of wine who will be presenting at Tradex Sept. 17-19 in Abbotsford for the huge and always entertaining Eat! Fraser Valley. 

So if by chance we won the 28th floor, sub-penthouse suite with its two bedrooms and wrap-around windows offering a spectacular view of the city, we would have a venue suited to her passions only a few steps away .

Wonderful.

We've mentally moved into the condo already.  I don't know what we will do with all the years of stuff that's accumulated in our 'other' home.

But today was a day for dreamers.

We lived well, ate well and smiled a lot.

How many of you dreamed today?