It's official: We love Sunnybrook

Sunnybrook staff – along with their friends and families – showed incredible support and commitment to patients by raising over $200,000 for the second annual I Love Sunnybrook Campaign. Launched at the end of February to bring staff together to raise funds and community spirit, the campaign was part of the hospital's larger Campaign for Sunnybrook fundraising effort.

This year's I Love Sunnybrook Campaign was a great success, surpassing last year's total amount raised by 25 per cent. "That's remarkable – and it says a lot about how much we love not only Sunnybrook, but how important we feel our own work is" says Ru Taggar, chair of the I Love Sunnybrook Campaign.

This year's event saw 40 campaign captains leading fundraising efforts throughout the hospital, with more than 1,000 staff members - 10 per cent of staff - participating. Even more participated anonymously by supporting events throughout the hospital, including movie night, Sunnybrook's Got Talent, bake sales, chilli lunches and silent auctions. Supporters could choose to designate funds to their own department or area of need, a great motivator for staff to see the impact of their own fundraising on improving patient care.

A big congratulations goes out to the I Love Sunnybrook grand prize winners who were entered into the draw for their participation in this year's campaign. Joydeep Chaudhuri, a research biologist from Sunnybrook's Research Institute, is the lucky winner of the 2012 Toyota Corolla; Alison Halliday, a laboratory technician from laboratory services, took home the $2,000 gift card from Air Canada Vacations; and Maria Solangon, a registered nurse at the Veterans Centre, snagged the iPack.

Thank you to all the staff, volunteers, friends and family who said "I Love Sunnybrook" with their support, energy and dedication. The Foundation is also grateful for Ru Taggar's hard work as Campaign Chair, without which the campaign would not have been the success it was.