Hamilton family gifts $3.3M to local hospitals, researchers to help battle COVID-19
Published April 3, 2020 at 2:41 pm
Hamilton’s Juravinski family donated $3.3 million to local researchers to fund projects working towards addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, including the development of a vaccine.
Hamilton’s Juravinski family donated $3.3 million to local researchers to fund projects working towards addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, including the development of a vaccine.
In a letter addressed to the Hamilton community and posted on McMaster University’s website, Charles and Margaret Juravinski said they were hoping this gift would help local efforts to battle the deadly virus.
“We want them to have the chance to do their best work in beating back this pandemic, by creating faster, more accessible means of testing that will show how the virus is spreading, by developing effective treatments for those who become ill and, ideally, to prevent more people from becoming ill by creating an effective vaccine,” they write.
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This gift is in addition to a $100 million legacy endowment the couple announced a little under a year ago that will be gifted to Hamilton’s hospitals and medical researchers upon their death. Not to mention the millions the family has already invested in health care in this city.
That endowment, like the newly announced $3.3-million gift, is intended to fund health research and development carried out in collaboration between McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton under the banner of the Juravinski Research Institute.
“Like everyone, we are deeply troubled by the fearsome threat of COVID-19, which has truly changed the world in just a few months,” they write.
“We want everyone to be free from this terrible virus, and to be able to live and move about without fear of spreading or picking it up. We’d like to see this happen during what remains of our lifetimes, and we are excited to have the chance to help.”
The couple ends their letter by expressing their profound appreciation of the work being carried out by health-care workers and first responders who are “risking their own health and even their lives for our wellbeing.
“These acts of bravery, kindness and caring prove that our love for this community is well placed, and we want to continue to do our part,” the couple wrote.
Read the entirety of the Juravinskis’ letter here.
Photo courtesy HHS Facebook page
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