It was an ambitious goal, but a local organization has met the challenge.Last week, the Humboldt District Hospital Foundation (HDHF) announced it had raised half a million dollars since November 13, 2009 and that PotashCorp Lanigan would meet its commitment of matching those funds. On June 10, PotashCorp Lanigan presented a cheque for $500,000 to the HDHF.According to Michelle Bankowski, co-chair of the HDHF's $1.8 million equipment campaign, it took seven months for the HDHF to take $500,000 and turn it into a million."This is the single largest donation received by the Humboldt District Hospital Foundation since its inception," Bankowski noted. "We're very honoured that we have met this challenge before the deadline."Bankowski praised the work of PotashCorp in helping the HDHF raise the money through spreading awareness of the campaign and helping them build partnerships throughout the region.Rob Bubnick, PotashCorp Lanigan general manager, applauded everyone involved in the campaign."In November, we were delighted to announce our involvement," he said. "We're very proud to be part of this initiative."PotashCorp's goal is to be a part of communities in their area and to help those communities grow."One of our goals at PotashCorp is to improve the social and economic well-being of the communities where we work and live," Bubnick said. "Matching challenges work well because we fund projects that are identified as priorities and supported by community members themselves. If it's important to our community, then it is important to us."Bubnick admits that he thought the HDHF's goal was fairly ambitious, but he's not surprised they met it."I was thinking it would be close to the end of the month," he said.Bankowski freely admitted it was an ambitious goal, but said once things got rolling, the matching program caught people's imagination."Once the district started putting on events and getting involved, there were a lot of creative ways to raise funds," she said. "Once the community and the district realized how important every dollar was, they really bought into the (matching) concept."But, Bankowski noted, the campaign isn't over yet. Over $315,000 still needs to be raised to meet their $2.5 million commitment to the Saskatoon Health Region for new equipment for the new Humboldt District Health Complex."We can meet the goal with the help of everyone in the district," she said. "And I ask you to support us as we are committed to reaching the final goal."
