Stollery Children's Hospital - Fish Tank Campaign

[SanguinesDream]

Originally Posted by tgrover

The Stollery Foundation is a pretty impressive BUSINESS. It's run as a business and they raise a lot of money. They spend ridiculous money on marketing but it does work. They also work with donors of 'items'. You can see that by walking the halls and public rooms.

+1

They actually spend a ridiculous amount on corporate donations. Their fundraising is only 21% comparatively to 63%.

My point being, use the same lense for scrutinizing/evaluating all projects before tanking a proposal.

[Kevotron]

what I dont understand from reading this thread was why 600G ?
A tank that is 120G with easy to maintain softy corals would be more than enough to hold a children/adult non enthusiast's attention.
Kids that are sick and parents that are stressed out isn't going to benefit from seeing all the fancy SPS, LPS, Zoas
Donating a fish tank to the hospital is a great idea, but I think we are attaching some of our fish/coral obsessions along with the original idea, and in the end this will cause this project ultimately fail.
just my 2 cents.

[tgrover]

Hi Kevotron,

I have certainly been getting lots of feedback and I agree a smaller tank may be better. I will be meeting with the Stollery Foundation and will leave it up to them... but a smaller tank, stocked and with good maintenance would be the way to go I think.

At least that seems to be the feedback so far, which has been much appreciated all around.

Tim

[Leah]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I agree with a lot of what you say, and especially the above comment. I've posted a couple of suggestions to reduce the stress on the parents, with utility type activities. As the parent, I can tell you this would help us a lot more than fish. I don't care about fish, I care the the Dr. just told me to be prepared for the worst. How do I not transfer that to my daughter? Fish aren't going to help.
I do agree that some sort of interaction would be great, so I suggested a biocube. Kids love Nemo, so set up a Nemo tank. Easy, cheap, maintainable.
We spent this Christmas Eve baking and soliciting Starbucks for coffee and took goodies and coffee to the staff and parents in the PEDs ICU. Pretty sure they enjoyed that more than Nemo It reduces the stress, makes the staff feel appreciated, helps the parents relax a bit knowing others know exactly what it's like to be stuck in the hospital with a sick kid. Cost me a bag of flour, some chocolate chips, a bit of gas and some time. Value= Priceless to the recipients.
Yes, the idea of a large reef on the ward is wonderful, but it's not practical. There are multiple stake holders, any one of which doing less than their part results in a total meltdown of the system. If I walked onto the ward and saw a 600g reef, I'd be awestruck. For 2 minutes. But if the hospital didn't have a 4.0 peds trach and my kid's is plugged, I'd be mad for a lot longer.
There are just so many better options to help. The tank idea is fine, but make it manageable. 50g or less. Look at some of the nanos we have posted here, they're just incredible. 600g @ 50k is wasteful and inappropriate for it's intention.

OMG!!! Brad I am so, so, very sorry to read this, crying as I type. I have not had a sick child but do have a sickly one, who by the way is an adult now.

My heart goes out to any parent in this position, but honestly I would be really ****ed off to see this in a hospital, as much as I love my tanks and wish I could get every one a tank, nothing could ever replace a child. And all I would want is to get my child home healthy and never look back.

I am pretty sure you came to the right place as a tank that size is a money pit and we can all vouch for it.

The money could be put to a thousand better uses..I am pretty sure that not all the families that are going there with these precious babes have very much. Just my 2 cents.

[daniella3d]

Not a good idea. Last time I saw a fish tank in such place it was neglected to no end. It was sad sad sad.

It's not a proper place to put such tank. So many things can go wrong with a tank that is well cared for, I can only imagine the pain that such tank would cost in a inproper place with no one dedicated long term to it.

[Evilweevil]

Wouldn't a tank in a place like the hospital be better with some nice fish and fake rock and corals like they do on those shows like tanked and fish tank kings way easier to care for and clean , I know it's not how we in the hobby like our tanks to be , but for just ease of upkeep its got to be better, a tank with live rock and corals could turn into an awful mess real fast I would think

[paddyob]

I thought there was a tank there... and I thought AI was taking care of it.

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by Kevotron

what I dont understand from reading this thread was why 600G ?
A tank that is 120G with easy to maintain softy corals would be more than enough to hold a children/adult non enthusiast's attention.
Kids that are sick and parents that are stressed out isn't going to benefit from seeing all the fancy SPS, LPS, Zoas
Donating a fish tank to the hospital is a great idea, but I think we are attaching some of our fish/coral obsessions along with the original idea, and in the end this will cause this project ultimately fail.
just my 2 cents.

Agreed. Good idea... Bad plan.

It needs to be simple. So if something goes wrong ... Like my tank currently... It can be monitored.

My 100g system is crashing. And it's soooo much work to try figure it out. There is no company in town giving daily service out for free (that I'm aware of) and I can't think anyone will willing pay for it.

A big tank will need to be babysat in a place like that or the maintenace company will look bad.

KISS.. Keep it simple stupid. Lol.

Good luck with your plan either way.

[HaZRaTTy]

Originally Posted by paddyob

I thought there was a tank there... and I thought AI was taking care of it.

There is a tank there, being in and out of the stollery with sick kids regularily I walk by the Cube tank alot. Its always clean and seems to be well maintained. I do believe AI's stamp/crest is on the tank.

When i'm in and out of the Stollery and its busy one main attraction is most definetly the fish tank, I haven't been into the stollery when someone wasn't plastered to the glass myself included.

There is nothing more relaxing then doing paperwork while watching a fish tank at 4am.

Sorry as I am not going to comment on too much here as there has been very good and supported claims and opinions, what I will say is there I believe 90g cube is more then enough to satisfy kids/parents and staff. I do believe the fundraised money would be much better used for many other things in the stollery.

[tgrover]

Yes, AI actually has 5 tanks throughout the Stollery. Primarily fresh water.
We want to build a premium reef tank, similar to what they have built for Telus. Also similar to tanks MA builds for private homes.

Both Ron at AI, Josh and Harvey at Marine Aquaria are helping with the project so far.