The institute supporting healthcare and education in Windsor-Essex is preparing to hold its first fundraiser.
WE-Spark Institute will present Cheers to Hope, on Wednesday, April 27, at the Essex Golf and Country Club. It is not only the first event of its kind since its inception, but according to executive director Dr. Lisa Porter, it is the first major event since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared just over two years ago.
"Now we have an opportunity to gather in-person to showcase the incredible research happening across our region, recognize the people behind all the great work, and focus our efforts on ensuring we can continue to support health research in the future," said Porter in a media release.
Since WE-Spark was introduced in March 2020, 52 grants have been awarded, totalling $776,725, spanning a variety of disciplines. Grant requests are reviewed every year via a rigorous process that involves external healthcare industry representatives, along with WE-Spark's four partner institutions, the University of Windsor, St. Clair College, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, and Windsor Regional Hospital.
"Within a month of the pandemic declaration, we launched our WE-Spark COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants Program awarding funds for 21 projects with hundreds of collaborators," said Porter. "A number of initiatives had immediate impact, such as supplying evidence-based homemade facemasks for healthcare workers, and longer-term impact including wastewater monitoring and testing for COVID-19 and other emerging infectious outbreaks."
Porter is hopeful that the Cheers to Hope event will help fund more cutting-edge projects in Windsor-Essex healthcare.
"It is our hope that this event will enable us to support many more projects," said Porter. "Our donors have helped us tackle some of the greatest health challenges of our time, and our community’s support will fuel the type of change our publicly funded systems cannot support alone."
Tickets to Cheers to Hope are $100 a person and can be purchased here.
