Juravinskis ring in Valentine’s Day with $5.1-million health-care gift to Hamilton
Candy, cards and flowers - those are the kinds of gifts that the average person might gravitate toward when one thinks of celebrating Valentine's Day and showing their love for others.
A gift of $5.1 million dollars? Probably not unless you're Hamilton philanthropists Charles and Margaret Juravinski.
On Monday, the Juravinski Research Institute (JRI), a partnership between Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, announced that the couple had made a new, multimillion dollar donation in support of health research in the city.
We've had more than 65 Valentine's Days together, and we've received more than our share of chocolates and flowers over the years," said the couple in a shared statement, this year's celebration a beautiful opportunity" to show their love for Hamilton and its health researchers.
The latest investment will support studies focused on child and youth health, integrated care, as well as burn trauma.
This is their Valentine's Day gift to our community basically," said Julian Dobranowski, chair of the institute's scientific and steering committees, in an interview. That research is going to affect all of us - whether we're healthy now or not."
According to a release, the Juravinskis' donation will help to develop research programs aimed at assessing pain points" in pediatric health services, accelerate ongoing efforts to integrate care in Hamilton's health-care systems and establish a world-class" burn research program built to attract researchers to the city.
The new money comes nearly three years after the couple announced what appeared to be their final donation in 2019 - a $100-million legacy estate gift, to be activated upon their deaths, that created the JRI.
But that was soon followed up by two other gifts, which totalled $6.3 million, in 2020. Those funds were invested in research focused on COVID-19, brain health and health system transformation, with more than a dozen projects receiving cash.
But the effect of the endowments doesn't halt at the research.
Dobranowski said while the gifts have been used to secure millions in additional funding and grants for the research ecosystem" in the city and attract new talent to the city, there is hope that the unselfish" gifts inspire others to invest in health care.
He noted that the need for donations has also been underscored by the pandemic, which has caused funding resources to significantly decrease," despite high competition.
(The Juravinskis) want their donations to be an example to other people," said Dobranowski. They believe that this is a valuable place to donate and they believe that this is working."
Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com