Friends of the Colonel Belcher Announce Fundraising Initiative

Calgary, Canada, April  18, 2000. - "1999 marked the 80th birthday of the Colonel Belcher Veterans Care facility, which has been on its current site since 1943."

Calgary business leader Tom Cumming officially declared a fundraising target of two million dollars for the Friends of the Colonel Belcher Fundraising Campaign at the organizations' general meeting, today.  These funds will be used to enhance building amenities, special programs and services planned for the recently announced Colonel Belcher Veterans' Care Centre to be built on the grounds of the former Alberta Motor Vehicles Branch site in the Parkdale community in Calgary. This new facility will replace the aging Colonel Belcher Veterans' Care Centre in downtown Calgary and continue to serve the needs of elderly veterans throughout southern Alberta.  The current care centre was constructed as a Veterans' Hospital in 1942.

The Friends of the Colonel Belcher was formed in 1998 as a voluntary fundraising group committed to ensuring our Veterans enjoy programs and services that enhance their quality of life in the Colonel Belcher Veterans' Care facility.  In the recent past this group has donated funds to refurbish recreaton areas and equipment.

The Friends Executive Chairman Major General (retired) Barry Ashton is very pleased with the resolution, "Since the conclusion of the Veterans' Health Task Force in 1997, our committee has been working tirelessly to ensure that Veterans' needs were being addressed.  With the recent announcement of construction funding for the new facility, we can now go forward with our plan to raise funding for enhancements to the long anticipated state-of-the-art care centre."

In 1997, faced with projected increases in the number of aging veterans requiring long term care, changing needs, and increased operating costs, the Calgary Regional Health Authority sought recommendations on the future of veterans' care in the Calgary region. It established the Veterans' Health Task Force, a group formed from veterans' organizations, Colonel Belcher residents and families, health authorities and health care providers.  The task force recommended that the existing hospital be replaced with a new care centre operating in a residential setting; one more attuned to the needs of the veterans.

Many veterans' groups and individuals are also gearing up to support the new facility.  Sid Wallace a naval veteran, a participant in the original Veterans' Health Task Force, and former administrative director of the University of Calgarys' Medical faculty now leads the drive to raise funds for enhancements amongst veterans organizations and families. "We have waited patiently for this opportunity and have been in contact with all of the veterans organizations throughout southern Alberta. I am confident that the veterans groups themselves will show leadership in this initiative."

Tom Cumming expects the fundraising drive will take up to eighteen months. "As Canadians we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our veterans. We have set ourselves some ambitious targets but are confident that the citizens and business communities of southern Alberta will respond."

Funds raised by the friends will be committed to such things as a memorial garden, auditorium, furnishings for common rooms, and special programs. The fundraising drive is being undertaken in close cooperation with the Calgary Health Trust.