The annual Tree of Dreams campaign reached its fundraising goal on Dec. 31, the earliest it has finished in its six-year history.
Janice Perrino, executive director of the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation, authorized lighting up the tree just before Christmas when they passed the $400,000 mark, well on the way to the $446,000 goal that had been set to buy a long list of new diagnostic equipment for Penticton Regional Hospital.
Though she was sure at that point that they would reach the goal, Perrino thought it might take another month to bring in the remainder.
“Each of those campaigns has been successful, but most take into January before they managed to reach the desired goal. This is the earliest so far … we were amazed,” said Perrino. “We needed to wait till last week was over to get a handle on this, but we’ve raised $460,000.”
Perrino said it took more than 1,200 donations, from $25 amounts on up, to meet the goal. But a big factor in getting to the target faster than expected was the generosity of a retired Osoyoos couple, who came in on the last official day of the campaign with a substantial donation.
“They really pushed us over the top. They’ve always been very good to us,” said Perrino. “It takes a lot of gifts to make a campaign like this happen.”
But when Hans and Linda Kohler made their $40,000 donation last week, they didn’t know it was going to be just what the foundation needed to complete the campaign.
“We didn’t know they needed so much,” said Linda Kohler, who suggests there might have been some divine intervention in their choice to give that amount this time.
Hans said that they have been successful since they retired from farming over 30 years ago, and this is just a way of helping the community that has been good to them.
“A lot of the people in the Similkameen where we farmed, they use this hospital,” said Hans. “They helped us farm and make our money over the years. It’s just for the good of the country.”
And, Linda adds, they have needed the hospital themselves — like for Hans’ second hip surgery, when he began donating to the foundation after realizing how expensive it was to keep all the equipment going.
“They really made the final gift,” said Perrino, adding that it was just the crowning moment in a very successful campaign, with a great response from the public, from individuals to the hospital auxiliary organizations, each of which made a donation.
“Every donation, from $25 on up, just came together,” she said. “It was amazing to watch it happen and we are just so incredibly thankful.”