A heart-warming Christmas tradition in Richmond celebrates 15 years of helping to improve local health care as White Spot Richmond Centre holds its annual Christmas luncheon on Christmas Day. Once again, White Spot Richmond Centre will open its doors from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with all staff time, tips and net proceeds generously donated to Richmond Hospital Foundation.
Charlie Tsang, Manager, White Spot Richmond Centre, credits the ongoing annual holiday luncheon fundraiser’s huge success to the restaurant’s passionate, hardworking employees, both current and former. “Everyone is incredibly dedicated to forego spending time with families and friends to help raise funds for Richmond Hospital.
“We will have nearly 60 staff working over three shifts with about a dozen people this year who have been participating from the beginning. And it’s amazing to see how many former staff members will return, some travelling from as far away as Toronto to come back and help out,” he says.
The Christmas luncheon is the busiest day of the year for the restaurant and guests travel from all over the Lower Mainland to participate. “People will be arriving before we officially open. Our guests are incredibly dedicated with many returning each year to support such an important community cause.”
Tsang said the significance of having high quality local health care nearly hit very close to home a mere two weeks ago. “Earlier this month, I wasn't feeling very comfortable. There was a general pain, almost like indigestion. Something didn't feel right.
“The next day at around 5 p.m., the pain got worse and I decided I should go to the Emergency Department at Richmond Hospital. As soon as they started to put some pressure on my abdomen, they suspected something. I had some blood tests and a scan. Then I was told I needed my appendix out that evening. It was an emergency.
“Everything happened so quickly. I texted my wife to say I wasn’t going to be able to come home because I was scheduled for surgery. By 10 p.m. that evening I was in the operating room, and an hour and a half later, I was in my room recovering.
“I was in and out of the hospital in less than 24 hours. I got great care, and I feel very lucky. If it hadn’t been treated quickly it could have become very serious. Even life-threatening.”
With strong support for the event from restaurant owner Veena Ganatra, as well as White Spot CEO, Warren Erhart, net proceeds from the staff fundraiser have totalled more than $110,000 since its inception in 2001. “Everyone comes away feeling good about the contributions they made for Richmond Hospital,” Tsang says. “It’s about looking after your own community. That’s what life is about.”
