Volunteers swarm St. Paul’s hospital for Lights of Hope setup blitz

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It was a scene of organized chaos along Burrard Street as over 100 volunteers worked to set up the sprawling Lights of Hope holiday display.

Groups of children in hard hats and reflective vests fiddled with long strands of twinkling lights in the St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation courtyard while electricians on cherry pickers attached light-up stars to scaffolding high above.

This one-day blitz is the most intense part of a project which is planned and developed year-round, according to Lights of Hope committee chair Douglas Hamming.

“Most of the people that are involved in this… I would suggest that about half of them have been here for about a decade,” says Hamming, who is an 18-year volunteer himself.

“At the end of any year, when you reflect on what you accomplished… there’s a few things that stand out,” he adds. “(It’s) having an opportunity to contribute to a hospital, and in my case, a hospital in my community.”

lights of hope

Seventy-eight-year-old Ash Dutta has been volunteering time to the Foundation since 1970, but Saturday was his first experience setting up Lights of Hope. He was brought out by his grandson, who is also an electrician.

“It’s like the military: from the outside it looks chaotic… but everyone has a job,” says Dutta, a military veteran himself.

“When you volunteer, you give but you also receive,” he adds, “and what you receive mainly is the satisfaction that I have done something for somebody, that I have given something back.”

Organizers are hoping to raise $3 million dollars through this year’s fundraiser. The grand reveal, (complete with fireworks,) is on Nov. 24.

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