A pair of Toronto business people have donated $1 million to the Canadore College Village Project which will be constructed at Canadore's College Drive location.
The state-of-the-art facility will combine Indigenous, Eastern and Western healing and wellness practices.
David Ding and Sapna Thakur, who did not want to be interviewed about the generous donations, both have worked alongside Canadore College before.
“We do a number of things internationally with them in other countries such as China and India,” noted Richard Peters, Vice President of Finance and Corporate Services International at Canadore College.
“We use their help to bring students to study here in Canada as well so they understand the importance of international to North Bay and Canadore, and they also understand the importance of the project, so it was a very easy discussion with David and Sapna about the donation to this particular venture.”
The Village’s construction and technology is valued at $20 million in total.
Canadore received $5.63 million from the federal government, more than $800,000 from the province and its overall fundraising campaign goal is $5 million from non-government sources.
Officials at Canadore say this first gift to the capital campaign will be recognized by the College through the creation of a healing garden that promotes whole self-healing, a common principle entrenched in Indigenous, Eastern and Ayurvedic wellness traditions and practices.
“The Village is all about bringing together a community dedicated to health and well-being,” said George Burton, president and CEO of Canadore College said in a release.
“Our world has fewer and fewer borders, and we are learning about different philosophies and practices to achieve optimum wellness from ancient practices and scientific research. Any single therapy or discovery, or a combination of principles may be the answer to an individual’s health. That’s what The Village is all about.”
Peters is excited about what the Village will do for Canadore.
"I think from our brief survey, nobody is bringing it into a single complex and combining it with the Eastern, the Aboriginal first peoples, the western techniques all into a single college and college program so this is very unique and something that will help Canadore attract staff and also students," said Peters.
Officials at Canadore are expecting to make more Village gift announcements in the coming months.
