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Small gesture, big difference Sarah Ferguson Northern News Services Published Wednesday, July 13, 2011
When he turned eight on June 21, he decided to donate his birthday money to the Stanton Territorial Hospital. "I was going to donate just what I got for my birthday, but then I decided to collect bottles to add to the donation," Budgell said. "My friends from school were going to help out, but couldn't make it, so I did it all by myself," he added with a grin. The J.H. Sissons student's efforts initially raised $250 for the hospital. But Budgell's parents were so inspired by his gesture, they matched their son's donation. "Arjun's donation had a snowball effect on everyone that heard about it," said Rebecca Alty, executive director of the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation. "Besides the $250 donation from his parents, two more anonymous donors jumped on board to match his donation amount and, in total, we raised $1,000 for the hospital." "I plan to raise money again for the hospital in the future," Budgell said. "I told Arjun that even if a gesture may appear small, it can inspire others to follow his lead," Alty said. Budgell said it was the words of Canadian author Janet Wilson that first inspired him to help his community. "She visited our school and told us about a boy named Ryan who raised money to build 16 wells in poor countries. "She wrote about it in her book and she told us you can really make a difference in the world," he explained. "So, I decided to raise money for the hospital." Wilson's book Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet mentions seven-year-old Canadian Ryan Hreljac, who raised money for a well in Uganda in 1999 and founded "Ryan's Well Foundation," which has since helped fund over 600 water and sanitation projects across the globe. Alty said the money that was donated to the hospital foundation will be put toward its paediatric unit, where it will be used to purchase new cribs for infant patients. "Our cribs are very outdated and desperately need to be replaced," she said. "The new ones will be wider and easier to work with." The paediatric unit at Stanton houses eight cribs and 10 beds, and caters to the needs of NWT and Kitikmeot residents ranging in age from infants to 17. The paediatric unit cared for more than 600 young patients in 2009-2010.
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