On Thursday, December 3rd, Mike & Melissa Robinson presented a donation of $7,500 to a very special care team at Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH), to honour the memory of their baby girl, Celia Marie. Celia passed away at GBGH on Christmas Day 2019 from an undiagnosed genetic immunodeficiency but her family is incredibly grateful for the exceptional care they received from their doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists.
“December 3rd would have been Celia’s first birthday”, shares Melissa. “We wanted to do something special to celebrate her, and also wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to the amazing team at GBGH who tried so hard to save our baby girl.”
On October 18, Melissa shared the idea of a baking fundraiser, with 100% of the proceeds being donated to GBGH, on her personal Facebook page. The virtual bake sale gained traction quickly, with hundreds of individual orders placed in less than 4 weeks. Shortly after, her sister Laura joined the efforts, selling hand-made wooden ornaments through her own Facebook page, with 100% of the proceeds also being donated to the hospital.
From October 21st to December 1st, Melissa, and a few close family members, made more than 6,100 muffins, cookies, tea biscuits, banana breads and chocolate peanut butter balls.
“I had no idea that it would get this big,” says Melissa. “I’ve been baking 6 days a week since October to get all the orders filled. We are so blown away by the support for our fundraiser, and so thankful that we can honour Celia in such an impactful way.”
The family wishes to extend their sincere gratitude to the care team at GBGH, including Dr. David Bayfield, RT Kayla LeClair, Dr. Amanda Murdoch, Dr. Rustam Rafikov, and Nurses Kim Eichenblat, Maggie Johnson, Allan Graham, Alicia Adams, Jess Elliott and Erica Lemieux.
