The 2017 running of the Campbell River Hospital Foundation’s annual Scrap Metal Challenge is in the books, and the coveted Scrap Metal Cup has been awarded to Marine Harvest, which gathered over $5,000 worth of scrap to donate to the cause.
$16,795 was raised this year, making it the most successful event since it started up six years ago. Currently, the foundation is raising money for a pair of ventilators for the hospital’s Emergency Department, which come in at $54,000 each. These machines move oxygen into a patient’s lungs while removing carbon dioxide, helping people breathe easier. The equipment can even breathe for patients who have lost all ability to do so for themselves.
Marine Harvest’s Corey Sillicker says their contribution to the challenge was entirely old equipment scavenged from their farming facilities.
“It was mostly scrap chain we don’t plan on reusing, actually,” Sillicker says. “But there were also marine generators and other stuff from the sites.”
Angela Schuk with ABC Recycling, which provides the scrap metal bins each year and does the actual recycling, says the record-breaking haul of scrap metal this year is made all the more impressive when you consider the price they are getting for the metal they collect these days.
“With the metal industry being the way it is right now, it’s very hard to get those numbers,” Schuk says. “The fact that they brought in that much money is amazing. I mean, three or four years ago we were looking at getting $150 to $250 per ton for scrap metal and right now we’re looking at somewhere around $85.”
Next up for the Hospital Association is their annual Golf. Because You Care fundraising golf tounrament being held Sept. 9 at Storey Creek Golf Course.