Grass Roots and Cowboy Boots raises more than $2.2 million

SUMMERSIDE - The latest Grass Roots and Cowboy Boots fundraiser in support of the Prince County Hospital (PCH) was a major success, raising more than $2.2 million in donations and future pledges for the hospital foundation.

In a Sept. 17 release, fundraiser organizers said that the fundraising effort was helped in part by a multiyear $250,000 donation from Lucas Arsenault, president of Arsenault Bros.

Arsenault noted that his wife Jennie received exceptional care at the PCH while giving birth to their sons, Maverick and Cullen.

“Jennie had requested that we drive from Cornwall up to Summerside,” said Lucas.

“...the equipment, the people, the private rooms all made for a wonderful experience for the births of our two sons.”

The donation also funded the replacement of the digital mammography unit. The replacement is important to Jennie after she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 30 and the mammography machines were unable to detect it.

“I was diagnosed after an ultrasound because the mammography machines at the time were not able to detect cancer in young women with dense breasts.”

She said the new machine will give her and many other women confidence and reassurance in their health, often needed for cancer survivors.

The foundation's volunteer board president, Rick Kennedy, said pledges like the one done by Arsenault Bros. means not only can the foundation count on a gift in 2021, but further payments allow the foundation to plan for future medical equipment needs.

“The Arsenault Bros. and our other generous donors make the future even brighter at PCH," he said.