$211,295 announced as record-breaking amount raised during Day of Hope
The 2018 Day of Hope was a record-breaking success.
During a “Thank You Celebration” luncheon held Wednesday, organizers revealed $211,295 was raised at the event last month.
The total is a record amount, shattering the old mark of $170,000 that was set last year.
“Great totals,” said Mission Hope Cancer Center Medical Director Dr. Robert Dichmann. ” To think that the community efforts in one day can raise almost a quarter of a million dollars is amazing and that’s reflective of a lot of people.”
All the money that was raised through the sale of special edition Santa Maria Times newspapers will directly benefit patients at Mission Hope Cancer Center.
“It was a great day and obviously very year we keep uping the ante,” said Dr. Dichmann. “These dollars are all generating help for our patients, so it’s a terrific benefit for our community.”
One of the speakers at the celebration luncheon was Janna Douma. Having been a patient at Mission Hope since December, she knows first hand the importance of the popular fundraiser.
“There are so many people that need that and that’s why we need to do this to keep Mission Hope going, their free services and to help people that need that financial help,” said Douma.
Over 700 volunteers participated on more than 60 different teams in the fifth annual event.
One of them was Teal Journey, a team dedicated to bringing awareness and education about ovarian cancer.
Now in its second-year with Day of Hope, Teal Journey was honored Wednesday with the Day of Hope Spirit Award.
“It’s surreal to see every year how much more money the community can bring together to give back to our patients who shouldn’t be thinking about monetary issues or not being able to pay bills. Their journey is difficult enough, so everything that we can do to make their journey a little bit easier is the best gift that we can give to them,” said Teal Journey member Christina Martins Sinco.
Organizers also announced which teams collected the most money.
The top team was Home Health, Hospice and Infusion, which brought in $7,051. Second-place went to Rancho Harvest with $6,884, followed by third-place team Sandra Brown/Old Town Orcutt with $4,563.
The Day of Hope was held in Santa Maria, Orcutt, Nipomo, Lompoc and Santa Ynez Valley.
Dr. Dichmann hinted that it could expand to other locations in the future.
“As far as the donation part and the charity part of it, we’d love to see other communities getting involved, even if it means having those dollars stay in those actual communities,” Dr. Dichmann said.
