Homebuilder to match hospital fundraiser donations for 3 years

The ‘Care Never Stops’ campaign has achieved 90 per cent of its target of $258 million by 2026

Homebuilder Ian Cook is putting his money to work for Grand River Hospital and hopes to inspire others to do the same.

For the next three years, the Cook family will match all pledges (monthly and annual) that came out of the hospital’s ‘Care Never Stops’ fundraising celebration held Saturday.

“I think philanthropy is very important,” Cook said in an interview at the event. “And I think when we’ve had an opportunity to get so many blessings in this country, that we have an obligation to give back.”

Cook revealed his pledge to thousands who attended the thank-you festival put on by the hospital. The free event was held beside the Kitchener hospital in the Sun Life parking lot.

Bands played. Food trucks filled bellies. People got their faces painted. A fireworks-like drone show capped it off.

Cook, 62, sang for the crowd as part of the Ian Richards Project. It’s a fun side gig to his day job as a land developer and builder who established Cook Homes in 1985.

“I brought along all of my wellheeled friends,” he said, angling to inspire donations he will match.

The ‘Care Never Stops’ campaign has achieved 90 per cent of its target of $258 million by 2026. Highlights include the largest gift the hospital has ever received, $15 million from the estate of Ralph and Dorothy Kraft.

The Krafts founded the iconic HiWay Market that opened in 1952 as the area’s first grocery superstore on King Street East in Kitchener.

Cook expects his pledge will be big enough to conclude a goal of the campaign, which is to bring neurosurgery to the Kitchener hospital.

“I’m very strong about my support for universal health care. I think it is fundamentally what defines us as Canadians,” he said. “It’s so important that we push back against all of the pressures and the negativity that we’ve been seeing toward our health-care system. We have to do whatever we can to right the ship, and to make the people that work here every day ... be more appreciated for all the sacrifices that they make and how hard they work.”

The government-funded hospital spends donations to buy more equipment, to support operations and programs, to recruit doctors, and to expand services.

“Right now we are in the late stages of putting together a proposal to bring neurosurgery to this community,” said Ron Gagnon, hospital president. This would happen in partnership with Hamilton Health Sciences which is where residents must go for brain surgery today.