It gives me great pleasure to advise the members of this House that important representatives from the Bowmanville Hospital Foundation are sitting in the members’ gallery today.

The Bowmanville Hospital Foundation is a key stakeholder in my riding of Durham. Through innovative and collaborative partnerships with families, governments, charities and businesses in Durham region, the foundation fosters a culture of community-based philanthropy to reach its campaign and strategic goals of raising funds for its capital costs toward the redevelopment and expansion of the Bowmanville Hospital.

Last month, the Bowmanville Hospital Foundation held its annual gala, delayed after three years. At that gala, over $374,000 was raised to help the foundation support its phase 2 initiative.

Many of the generous donors that have partnered with the Bowmanville Hospital Foundation include the regional municipality of Durham, the municipality of Clarington, the Halminen Family Foundation, the Kemp family, St. Marys Cement, Steve Hennessey and family, Tyler Smith, the Association of Hospital Volunteers-Bowmanville, Edmond and Sylvia Vanhaverbeke, and the Urso family/Canadian Tire, Bowmanville.

On behalf of this chamber, I would like to congratulate and welcome CEO Frank Cerisano and manager of major gifts and planned giving, Ms. Bethany Dainton. They are present in the gallery today. I salute them for their dedication and commitment to the foundation. I also give a shout-out to board chair Peter Hobb and chief development officer Maria Petri, who could not be with us today.