Community and business leader Michael Croxon has committed to donate $500,000 to wrap up the successful $7.5-million Better Begins Today fundraising campaign to support mental health care at Southlake Regional Health Centre.
From the outset of the campaign, Croxon, who is CEO of NewRoads Automotive Group and a member of Southlake Foundation’s philanthropy cabinet, "has demonstrated his philanthropic leadership and has now committed an additional $500,000 in support to bring the campaign to a successful close," according to a Southlake news release.
“As part of the philanthropy cabinet at Southlake, I understand how important this campaign is to the communities NewRoads has called home for the past 20 years,” said Croxon. “Every one of us is either personally touched or are just one connection away from someone who is working through mental health challenges.
"Southlake’s mental health program is crucial to caring for our communities and I am so proud in conjunction with my wife, Sharon, and my 430 NewRoads associates to support this campaign.”
The Better Begins Today fundraising campaign launched in October 2020 to help cover the remaining costs of the mental health program’s expansion following a funding announcement of $6.5 million from the Ontario government.
On Tuesday, the hospital based in Newmarket opened the 12-bed adult inpatient mental health unit, which "prioritizes the needs of mental health patients by focusing on space, privacy, dignity, and support while protecting everyone’s health and safety to promote healing and recovery," the regional health centre said.
Take a look inside Southlake's new adult mental health unit
“Mental health care needs more than medicine. We are so grateful to our community of donors who stepped up to support our campaign and have enabled us to build a place of peace, dignity, and security for patients in crisis, close to home,” said Jennifer Ritter, president and CEO of Southlake Foundation. “It’s an extraordinary achievement we can all be proud of.”
“Without the generosity of our gracious community of donors, this expansion would not have been possible,” said Arden Krystal, president and CEO of Southlake. “We’re extremely grateful to have a community that supports us and allows us to continue to build to meet their needs.”
