Mining for Miracles, BC’s mining community’s longstanding fundraising campaign for BC Children’s Hospital, presented a cheque for over $1.6 million to BC Children’s Hospital Foundation at the 26th annual Miracle Weekend held on June 1 and 2.
 

Mining for Miracles’ success depends on the generosity of individuals and corporations throughout the province. In particular, the hundreds of mining, exploration and development companies, service providers and suppliers across BC, Alberta, the Yukon and Northwest Territories and of course, employees, friends and family who know firsthand the positive difference Mining for Miracles makes to the health of BC’s kids. Donations were made through employee and corporate fundraising initiatives and events such as Jeans Day(TM), the Diamond Draw, Slo-Pitch, the Hooked on Miracles Fishing Tournament, and the Teck Celebrity Pie Throw, which took place on May 2, 2013.
 

“Mining for Miracles works closely with BC Children’s Hospital Foundation to make donations count. We support research, capital investment and the provision of outstanding health care at the many centres of excellence within BC Children’s Hospital,” said Jason Weber, chair of Mining for Miracles.
 

Mining for Miracles is currently raising funds to support the BC Children’s Hospital BioBank. Biobanking is a new and invaluable research tool that holds the potential to improve treatments and find cures for diseases affecting millions of children around the world. This will be the first institutional pediatric biobank in Canada and will facilitate breakthrough medical discoveries that will improve the lives of children suffering from debilitating and life-limiting diseases.
 

The partnership between BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, BC Children’s Hospital BioBank and Mining for Miracles is a leading example of how industry, institutions and not-for-profit organizations can work together to provide world-class health care and services to the children and families of British Columbia.
Visit www.miningformiracles.ca for more information and to donate.
 

About Mining for Miracles
 

Since 1988, Mining for Miracles has raised over $21.5 million for BC Children’s Hospital. Every year, volunteers from the mining community work together to help improve the quality of health care for children in our province. One hundred per cent of funds raised through Mining for Miracles go toward specific projects at BC Children’s Hospital. Through its support of the construction of facilities and acquisition of specialized medical equipment at the hospital, Mining for Miracles is helping to keep BC Children’s Hospital at the forefront of pediatric care excellence.

About Biobanking
 

A Biobank stores and preserves a collection of tissue samples. Scientists who are members of the bank can seek permission to make a withdrawal from the bank and use the samples for research. In the last 40 years the survival rate for children with cancer has increased dramatically from 10 per cent to 78 per cent. This advancement is due to extensive research and the development of new treatments. Similar progress has been made for other pediatric diseases. A Biobank offers researchers a “ready-to-use” collection of samples, which are the basis of their research experiments.