Calgary, You Are Amazing!

[Minnie]

Yup, I'm a sentimental sap. But it still needs to be said. We all saw evidence of the amazing generosity of Calgarians this past summer with the floods and destruction. And now, we see it again, in the way people are stepping up for this family. I think it's awesome. I don't know these people from a hole in the wall - I just saw the report on Global tonight.

Link (video at the link):

The Andre family never planned to be here.

With less than two weeks until Christmas, the family of five is living in a Calgary motel room, hundreds of kilometers from their Ontario home and the people who love them.

“We wanted the best care for [our daughter], and this is where it is,” Lisa Andre explains from just outside Unit 1 at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Down the hall, 7-year-old Aubri is undergoing treatment for cancer.

“She’s got a rare condition, an extreme high risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, but she also a rare chromosomal transmutation that they haven’t seen before so we wanted to be where they could fix her.”

Aubri’s parents made a fast decision to move their young family to Calgary. They arrived last week, without a place to live or friends to turn to for help.

{Aubri's aunt) Sarah Guenther reached out online, sharing a blog post to friends of friends on Facebook, asking if anyone could help the Andres find a place to live. The response was almost immediate.

“I had over 50 e-mails from people,” says Guenther. “Many people willing to give up their entire house during the holiday season so Phil, Lisa and the family could move in, just so they weren’t homeless over the holidays.”

Others have offered to donate holiday treats and Christmas gifts.

We spent a lot of time at Children's, for over a year, with one of our kids, and have seen several specialists there over the years, with one of our other kids. One thing that isn't mentioned in the article, is the cost of parking at the hospital, and eating onsite. There isn't a lot of room to store food either, if you're admitted. So you're kind of stuck eating at the cafeteria, or hoping someone will bring you food from home - since they don't have a home, they're kind of up #### creek in that regard.

So if anyone is thinking of somewhere to donate money this season, please consider this young family and buy some parking passes for them. You can also buy gift cards for the cafeteria there. In addition, if you didn't already know this, there is a Starbucks there, as well as a Good Earth Cafe, which are other GC possibilities. Market Mall is just around the corner, and there's a Safeway there, so a gift card for there might be nice too, so that mom can pop over there and pick up something different for meals (their ready made meals are great for this) for a change.

Again - I don't know these people, at all. We've just been in a similar boat, though our child's illness wasn't nearly as serious as this little girl's is - so I thought I'd share the story and throw it out there that if you're feeling generous this xmas, here's an immediate need.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Calgary has the best children's hospital in the country? Never knew that

[Minnie]

They are for some things - not for everything. We had a great experience with the Thoracic surgery team there, our first run through. The second time around, with a different kid and a different issue - not so much.

[kirant]

Apologies for the thread hijack, but I didn't think this should be its own thread...

On the topic of generous Calgarians, I thought CP might be interested in this story. A Calgarian won $40 million, the highest amount a single person has ever won in the city.

He has chosen to donate all of it to cancer support organizations.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...away-1.2466610

A Calgary man who won a $40-million lottery prize last May has kept it a secret until now, but says the money will go to charity in memory of his wife.

[...]

Crist said that as soon as he got the call he knew where the money was going to go.
"I lost my wife to cancer two years ago."

His wife of 33 years, Jan, died in February 2012. She was 57.

[Hatter]

My oldest niece was born with a heart tumor and had to undergo open heart surgery at 11 days old.

The folks at the children's hospital treated my sister and the rest of my family like royalty. The little one had a perfect recovery. We'll always feel indebted to the ACH.

Wonderful place.

[Fobulous]

Originally Posted by kirant

Apologies for the thread hijack, but I didn't think this should be its own thread...

On the topic of generous Calgarians, I thought CP might be interested in this story. A Calgarian won $40 million, the highest amount a single person has ever won in the city.

He has chosen to donate all of it to cancer support organizations.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...away-1.2466610

Wow. I am speechless. This is amazing.

I just bought a lottery ticket for the mega millions down here in the states and although I know my chances of winning are basically 0, I caught myself dreaming of all the crap I would do if I won that money. I never once thought of donating it to Charity.

It takes an amazing person to do what this guy is doing. Unreal.

[bigtmac19]

I know there was a big fundraiser in Leamington just a few weeks ago for this family, it was quite successful. I think the money was just to help them get there. I'm not surprised that people in Calgary have taken the reins to help them now that they are there. Good on you.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Fobulous

Wow. I am speechless. This is amazing.

I just bought a lottery ticket for the mega millions down here in the states and although I know my chances of winning are basically 0, I caught myself dreaming of all the crap I would do if I won that money. I never once thought of donating it to Charity.

It takes an amazing person to do what this guy is doing. Unreal.

I totally agree.

I could never donate it all. I would give a good chunk, like maybe 5-10% or something but to donate it all would be something that is beyond my ability.

[JD]

Well it's hard to put yourself in his shoes. He might already be well-off, or at least living comfortably. He lost his wife to cancer. It probably means everything in the world to him to be able to strike back at that disease. I lost my brother a couple years ago (different disease) and I can identify with that feeling. Not that I know that I would do the same thing. I probably wouldn't!

It is incredible. A very, very unselfish act!

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by JD

Well it's hard to put yourself in his shoes. He might already be well-off, or at least living comfortably.

From the article it said he said he had done well for himself, has enough to look after his kids and doesn't really need the money. From doing a quick search, he was the President and CEO of a company that was sold for $1.14B last year.

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by Fobulous

It takes an amazingly rich person to do what this guy is doing

fyp.

The guy is loaded, probably has everything he could ever want and has his family set up for generations.

It's still a cool and selfless act, but it's not like he is giving it all away and driving off in his old beater to live in a crappy apartment.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

fyp.

The guy is loaded, probably has everything he could ever want and has his family set up for generations.

It's still a cool and selfless act, but it's not like he is giving it all away and driving off in his old beater to live in a crappy apartment.

[Fobulous]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

fyp.

The guy is loaded, probably has everything he could ever want and has his family set up for generations.

It's still a cool and selfless act, but it's not like he is giving it all away and driving off in his old beater to live in a crappy apartment.

The dude just gave $40,000,000 away for cancer research. How much money he has is irrelevant.

There are a lot people that are extremely well off and rarely do they ever donate this much money to such a good cause.

[TheGrimm]

Originally Posted by Fobulous

The dude just gave $40,000,000 away for cancer research. How much money he has is irrelevant.

There are a lot people that are extremely well off and rarely do they ever donate this much money to such a good cause.

I wouldn't exactly call it irrelevant. But you are right, there are a lot of people who would take the money and run.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by Fobulous

The dude just gave $40,000,000 away for cancer research. How much money he has is irrelevant.

There are a lot people that are extremely well off and rarely do they ever donate this much money to such a good cause.

Jobs, Steve

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Jobs, Steve

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ng-enough.html

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by Fobulous

The dude just gave $40,000,000 away for cancer research. How much money he has is irrelevant.

There are a lot people that are extremely well off and rarely do they ever donate this much money to such a good cause.

Seems like kind of a waste to me, actually. $40 million to 'cancer research', which receives what, billions in donations every year? And never accomplishes anything.

For that kind of money he could have a whole new ward added on to the Tom Baker center and named after his wife. Or a new medical study place built at the U of C.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Seems like kind of a waste to me, actually. $40 million to 'cancer research', which receives what, billions in donations every year? And never accomplishes anything.

For that kind of money he could have a whole new ward added on to the Tom Baker center and named after his wife. Or a new medical study place built at the U of C.

Where to start......

What yard stick are you using to measure "never accomplishes anything"

Also you seemed to have missed this:

He has chosen to donate all of it to cancer support organizations.

It is does not appear to be going to one cancer research establishment, which, "accomplishes nothing"............

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Where to start......

What yard stick are you using to measure "never accomplishes anything"

Also you seemed to have missed this:




It is does not appear to be going to one cancer research establishment, which, "accomplishes nothing"............

Well one would imagine the goal would be a cure to cancer. Which through decades of research and billions of dollars has yet to be found. All these cancer research places seem to accomplish is finding ways to make people die slower.

[DOOM]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Well one would imagine the goal would be a cure to cancer. Which through decades of research and billions of dollars has yet to be found. All these cancer research places seem to accomplish is finding ways to make people die slower.

Wow, seriously?