THUNDER BAY — Bay Village Coffee raised roughly $42,000 this year for the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation’s new cardiac unit, bringing its five-year total to over $100,000.
In memory of Patti Hobbs, a friend of the local business who passed away from a heart attack, the fundraiser sold heart-shaped buttercream cookies throughout February — some cookies travelling internationally to the U.S., Mexico and Portugal.
“It’s been a phenomenal fundraiser,” said Alan Forbes, the owner of Bay Village Coffee.
After suffering a heart attack two years ago and ending up in the hospital next door to the room dedicated to Hobbs, Forbes said the fundraiser took on a whole new meaning and they just really kicked it up this year, allowing them to really “smash” their goals.
“Last year’s donation was $18,000 and so we hoped that we would beat that and maybe make $20,000, but halfway through the month, we saw the numbers just climbing and climbing and climbing,” said Forbes.
When they realized they could take it to $40,000 and then $100,000 they really pushed, he said, and the community just stepped right up.
“The support has just been phenomenal. We’ve had so many organizations ordering and lots of companies, lots of businesses (and) lots of individuals. And so yeah, they really turned out for us,” said Forbes.
As a small coffee shop in the city, Forbes said more than doubling the money they raised last year was “really mind-blowing.”
The fundraising has also been a family affair, he added.
“I’m proud of my grandpa for everything he’s done,” said Dylan Haven, who has helped Forbes at the business.
Selena Owen, with the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation, has worked alongside Forbes and his team for the last two years. She said it is astonishing to see the work that everyone at Bay Village Coffee has put into this event and that seeing it grow to more than double this year is just incredible.
“I’ve been very honoured to be a part of this journey and everyone at the foundation really appreciates everything that the Bay Village has done,” said Owens.
Through donations from supporters and events, the Our Hearts at Home campaign has received around $20 million to help bring cardiovascular surgery directly to Thunder Bay within the next couple of years.
“That’s a major thing to have and it’s really great to know that not a lot of people are going to have to travel down to Toronto. They’ll be able to stay here,” said Owens.
She said it takes a lot of money to bring the program to the city, so the $100,000 and five-years of support from Bay Village Coffee was a huge deal.
“It’s incredible to have support from the government, as well as all the donors from 50/50, the major donors (and) the third-party events like Alan himself,” she said.
Owens also wanted to send out a huge thank you to the community.
“Being able to help sell these cookies at the hospital, I really got to experience the support that Alan and this fundraiser gets having every nurse (and) every hospital worker come up and say thank you for the support of the Northern Cardiac Fund... and supporting Alan,” said Owen.
Going forward, Forbes said they will do one year at a time, but he really wanted to thank Thunder Bay and all the organizations, businesses and individuals that showed up for the fundraiser.
"It just goes to show that everybody can make a difference and this... just turned out so much bigger than we ever thought it could. And so you never know until you try and one thing that we’ve learned over the years is that Thunder Bay is an incredibly generous city,” said Forbes.
“Anytime we do any kind of a fundraiser, particularly this one, people really show up and it’s really heartwarming.”
