On November 16th and 17th the high school students at Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School (KCI) raised an incredible $1,717 for the neonatal intensive care unit at Grand River Hospital with their production, Limelight 2022! Their donation will support new cardiorespiratory monitors for the unit to ensure the highest level of critical monitoring for the babies who need care.

Limelight, KCI’s annual variety show, is an entirely student-run production with two producers, who oversee all aspects of the show, and two or three directors for art crew, tech crew and each of the casts (dance, music and drama). Starting with auditions during the second week of September, the dedicated students at KCI put together the entire production with only two months of practice and preparation, and the show itself featured a number of skits, dances and musical numbers.

To up the ante, the traditions around this annual KCI production require all of the directors to beg the audience members for donations during the show’s intermission. Whoever raises the least amount money must then take a bite out of a lime, and if the directors raise more than $600, everyone in the cast must eat a lime. On the second night, this tradition continues, and if the directors raise more money on the second night than the first, everyone in the cast must eat a second lime.

Thank you so much to the students at KCI for hosting this fun fundraising initiative and their donation to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. Their generosity will help Grand River Hospital staff provide babies in the NICU and their families with the best possible care and patient experience.