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Wednesday, February 26, 2014
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VOL. 100 NO. 51
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Sweet science Shayanne Halliday, Barlow Creek Grade 7 student, received a second class award for her experiment. She tested whether or not energy from a submerged watermelon would charge her iPhone. Although the experiment wasn’t successful, Shayanne agreed she learned a great deal in the process. For more results and photos see Friday’s Observer. Annie Gallant photo
Taseko donates $1.5M to mental health facility in Vancouver AUTUMN MacDONALD Observer Reporter After Taseko Mines Limited committed $1.5 million to the building of a new Mental Health Facility in Vancouver, it’s been touted as the largest corporate donation in the facility’s history. The funding, provided over the course of three years, will aid VGH in building a new state-ofthe-art facility, which will provide a therapeutic and healing environment for
patients from across the province. The current facility is 70 years old. “Taseko’s operations are exclusively British Columbia based,” Taseko president and CEO Russell Hallbauer said. “We have more than 700 people and their families living in the province, primarily in Williams Lake and the Cariboo region; and although this new facility will exist in Vancouver, it will be available to improve the lives of British Columbians, regardless of
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where they live. “That is important to us. We are proud to make this contribution to mental health care and recovery on behalf of our employees and shareholders.” The new centre will be dedicated to treating patients with a variety of mental conditions, including depression, schizophrenia, anxiety as well as alcohol and drug addictions. The centre, which will contain 100 private rooms in its approximately 119,500 sq. ft of space,
will cost an estimated $84.5 million. Construction of the centre is expected to break ground in October 2014, with the building completed by May 2017. “The $1.5 million we’ve contributed will go to a very worthy cause – the services provided by the new state-of-the-art centre will benefit the province’s residents regardless of where they live, providing mental health care and recovery services where it is needed,” Taseko vice pres-
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ident of corporate affairs Brian Battison said. “As a large employer that has worked closely with people in small communities, we’ve had the privilege to know and share the residents’ successes as well as struggles. Our president Russ Hallbauer, who is a former VGH-UBC Hospital board member, has seen the effects of mental illness across the province first hand.” “We are extremely pleased to have Taseko come on board in such a
significant way,” President and CEO at VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation, Barbara Grantham said. “By any measure a $1.5 million donation is very generous. It is the largest corporate gift we have received for the project to date. As Russ Hallbauer notes, Taseko’s contribution underscores the importance of this state-ofthe-art treatment facility that will serve British Columbians for generations to come.”
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