World Duty Free Vancouver Presents Over $20,000 to Richmond Hospital Foundation for the Yurkovich Family Pavilion

Tracy Wong, Regional VP of Operations at Dufry North America (5th from the left); Elaine Xu, VP, Travel Trade & Promotion at Dufry North America (3rd from right); and fundraising committee members; Spencer Gall, Campaign Director, Richmond Hospital Foundation (1st from right).

RICHMOND, BC – In 2023, staff at World Duty Free Vancouver raised over $20,000 to support Richmond Hospital Foundation’s Yurkovich Family Pavilion, bringing them another step closer to their $100,000 goal – one that was set back in 2019 for the future nine-floor acute care tower.

“Since 2016, Richmond Hospital Foundation has been World Duty Free Vancouver’s chosen charity of choice,” explains Tracy Wong, Regional Vice President of Operations at Dufry North America. “Many of our staff live and work in Richmond, and have a deep connection for this community. They value the excellent care provided by the health care team here and are excited to lend their support towards the brand new acute care tower coming to Richmond.”

World Duty Free Vancouver offers one-stop tax and duty-free shopping for travellers at airports. It is part of Avolta, the leading global travel experience player with 1,200 locations and 5,500 points of sale in 75 countries.

In 2019, World Duty Free Vancouver staff set a goal to raise a total of $100,000 for the Yurkovich Family Pavilion. This past year, they held various staff-led initiatives including charity sales, fundraising lunches, and point-of-sale donation opportunities, raising over $20,000. With their recent 2023 donation, they’ve now raised more than $85,000 towards the new acute care tower and are confident they will reach their goal by the end of 2024.

“We are grateful to World Duty Free Vancouver for designating Richmond Hospital Foundation as their charity of choice,” shares Spencer Gall, Richmond Hospital Foundation Campaign Director. “Over the past eight years, their fundraising efforts have been supporting different urgent needs in health care here and, as a result, help create a healthier future for the people of Richmond.”

The Yurkovich Family Pavilion at Richmond Hospital will enable enhanced and increased health care services to address the growing needs of the community including a new emergency department, 208 in-patient beds, expanded surgical centre, and fully equipped medical imaging centre.

Richmond Hospital Foundation is currently raising $25 million for the new Milan & Maureen Ilich Medical Imaging Centre, the cornerstone of the new Yurkovich Family Pavilion. To support this campaign, please visit: https://www.richmondhospitalfoundation.com/campaign/medical-imaging-centre-campaign/