Vancouver, BC – Members of BC’s South Asian community and other guests raised $315,000 at the seventh annual A Night of Miracles (ANOM) gala November 7 at the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel. The money raised will be used to support the purchase of anesthesia machines, which ensure children are safe and free of pain during the over 9,000 procedures that take place at BC Children’s Hospital annually.
“Over the past four years, the South Asian community has raised money to support the construction of operating rooms in the new BC Children’s Hospital,” said Robin Dhir, the gala’s founding chair. “At this year’s A Night of Miracles gala we took the next step – ensuring the operating rooms are equipped with the latest and safest technology available.”
The anesthesia machines that will be purchased with the proceeds of this year’s gala will be put into immediate use and later transferred to the Teck Acute Care Centre, the heart of the new BC Children’s Hospital, when it opens in 2017. The Teck Acute Care Centre will house the ANOM Special Procedures Suites, named in recognition of the South Asian community’s $3-million commitment, completed in 2014, to support construction of the Teck Acute Care Centre.
“The South Asian community has accomplished great things in support of BC Children’s Hospital and the children of BC and the Yukon,” said Teri Nicholas, president and CEO of BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. “It’s wonderful to see the community maintain such incredible momentum and make a contribution that will have an immediate impact on thousands of young lives.”
Recently appointed Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan and BC Minister of Justice and Attorney General Suzanne Anton joined more than 400 guests at the gala, which was emceed by Aaron McArthur and Sonia Beeksma of Global BC and co-presented by returning sponsors Fasken Martineau and RBC Royal Bank. Dinner was created by Frank Gort, executive chef of the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel, in collaboration with Vikram Vij of Vij’s Restaurant. Additional sponsors included auction sponsor Port Metro Vancouver and evening sponsors KPMG, Nature’s Path and Twin Brook Developments. Entertainment was choreographed by Simran Sidhu, who won OMNI TV’s 2014 Bollywood Star.
BC Children’s Hospital is the province’s only full-service acute-care hospital dedicated to serving close to one million children living in BC and the Yukon. All children who are seriously ill or injured are referred to Children’s Hospital and are either treated at the hospital facility in Vancouver or, with consultation from Children’s specialists, in their home community. Last year, more than 84,000 children were treated at Children’s Hospital. In 2014-15 BC Children’s Hospital Foundation received donations from more than 119,000 people and provided $57.3 million in grants and contributions to BC Children’s Hospital, Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, Child & Adolescent Mental Health and the Child & Family Research Institute. For more information visit www.bcchf.ca.
