Santa Maria’s Day of Hope 2025’s Results Breaks The Record Again
Jarrod Zinn
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The results are in for the 12th annual Day of Hope fundraiser.
They’ve topped themselves once again this year.
For twelve years now, a collaboration between Mission Hope Cancer Centers and the Santa Maria Times has been raising funds for the patient services and programs at Mission Hope.
“It’s an amazing event,” says Dr. April Kennedy, hematologist with Mission Hope Cancer Center. “And I see firsthand the good that it does for our patients. I see, you know, amazing community. There’s not a community out there like Santa Maria where so many people support our patients and our center.”
Funds are raised for a limited time before and after the official day of hope each year at the end of summer.
“And the partnership with the Santa Maria Times to make this happen, to me, it’s my favorite event because it’s the whole community coming out and giving a dollar at a time to support us,” says Sue Andersen, Dignity Health’s president & C.E.O.
The tallied results of all contributions have been steadily increasing every year, bringing the community together to break the record each time.
This year was no exception, and the $473,000 announced at Thursday’s celebration in front of mission hope’s flagship building was about 64 thousand dollars more than last year.
“A lot of what we do could not be done without the Day of Hope donations that are made possible by the wonderful people in this community,” says Dr. Kennedy.
Awards are issued to teams who reached high levels of contribution.
The folks with Rugged Radios, an organization from Arroyo Grande, say they are proud to outdo themselves every year.
“Each year it’s about doing more because they’re doing more for our community,” says Rugged Radios’ Greg Cottrell. “So we have to do more to support them.”
Contributions can be made to Mission Hope Centers at any time through the Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation website.
But be sure to begin saving dollars now for the next round of Day of Hope, coming at the end of summer, 2026.
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