What are you thankful for? Tell us and win!
For one more week, we’re giving you the chance to tell us what you’re thankful for and be entered to win a grocery store gift card.
Submissions so far
See your fellow staff members’ submissions in the comments below and see their photos here:
How to enter
It’s simple to get involved: Share what you’re thankful for in the comment section below, or take a picture of what you’re thankful for and email it to news@vch.ca.
At 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 6, a winner will be drawn for a grocery store gift card to go toward your tofurkey, turducken or good ol’ turkey dinner with friends and family!
Our collective thankfulness
We’ll post a slideshow of your entries in VCH News on October 8th to share the warm and fuzzies before Thanksgiving weekend!
The benefits of gratitude 
Health studies have shown that making “gratitude an attitude” can often lead to:
- New relationships and opportunities
- Better physical and psychological health
- More empathy and less aggression
- Good sleeping patterns
- Improved self-esteem
- Better mental strength (reducing stress, overcoming trauma)
Brenda Wagner
I am grateful for my precious grandchildren. Laughing is the best when it involves their antics.
Bernadette Z.
I am thankful for having a blessed life and for being able to stay strong in times of struggle.
Bernadette Zuniga
I am thankful for waking up each morning feeling blessed that I have my health and family always there for me and that no matter what happens I can always count on them on my side.
Wendy Leung
I am thankful for the relationships I have with my God, church, family, mentors, leaders, and co-workers, all of whom contribute to my happiness and health everyday.
Li Lian
I am grateful to have healthcare available to everyone
Sai
I am grateful for every second of my existence – as every second of my existence is but an opportunity, to do my duty selflessly, to make the entire universe happy.
Laurie Dawkins
I’m grateful for my husband, my colourful, quirky kids, and that first delicious, double-shot espresso that starts my day!
Sue
I am grateful everyday for my health, freedom, family and friends. I feel fortunate to live a wonderful life and wish everyone could have the same.
Tanya Jones
I am thankful for my VCH co-workers and friends in Powell River for all the support they provided my family last year when my 5-year old son was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. I am thankful that he is healthy now due to the fantastic health care he received.
natalia
I am the most greatful for having choices in my life.
Michelle Stanton
I’m thankful for my family who love and support me unconditionally and my friends who make me laugh and keep me grounded.
Debby Hall
I am grateful to wake up each morning with purpose and contentment. I enjoy my work and find it fulfilling and challenging. Returning home to a supportive family and energetic kids also remind me of how blessed I am.
Carolyn Summerfield
I am thankful for my 2 amazing teenagers who teach me something every day.
BELINDA CASTENDYK
I am grateful for learning and applying The law of Attraction in my life and learning to be grateful for EVERTHING !
Mary Jacob
I am truly thankful for:
The gift of each new day
The beauty of nature and the vibrant colours around
My loving family and friends
The many problems I face and the lessons I learn while dealing with them
The ups and downs in life, the good and bad
This wonderful country I live in and where I am respected for who I am………..and
Having Jesus as my friend and saviour.
Sarah
I’m grateful for the hard parts of parenting. They really challenge you to be in the moment, appreciate the gift you’ve been given of this little person who is growing and learning. They make me a better person – more selfless, better at problem-solving, and more empathic.
Nancy
My home and family for the warmth and support, my career, 10 minutes from my home.. with all its challenges and its lumps, my country for its beauty and peace loving attitude, my community for its intelligence and its involved leaders and my Garden for how it surprises me every year.
Angie Natingor
I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve had over the years to become more involved in my community.
Diane Ward
I’m thankful for all the people I’ve met in my journey through life that have given meaning to my life. I’m thankful for the 39 years I had with my dear mom… and for the work that has always come my way, the travelling I’ve done, the relationships I’ve had that have given me love and support. My family, friends, pets and the beauty of nature around us. And to have been born in this amazing country….
Karen C.
I am thankful for my faith that keeps me well rounded and grounded. I am thankful for my young at heart patients who are role models on how I would like to be like as I grow older each day.
peter kubota
I am thankful for good health. Our business is health care and it cannot be purchased or stolen. It is priceless and often neglected until it is gone.
Here’s to good health and to all of us who are there to keep it for everyone we care for including ourselves
Jessica Purver
I am thankful for opportunity. When faced with obstacles or unfavourable circumstances, I always have to remind myself that I’ve been granted chances and opportunities that so few people in the world actually come across.
susan johnston
I am deeply thankful for the support of my employer, union, medical staff, colleages, friends and family during an illness that took me out of work for two years. I have returned to work healthier, happier and indeed most grateful for the privledges and blessings bestowed upon me. I could not have imagined feeling this way 3 years ago. This gratitude is with me always: when I get on the bus, when I talk with my co workers, when I cook a meal for my family, when I work in my garden. We are all so blessed to not just be alive, but to live here, in this city, in this country, on this beautiful planet. Our privledges are boundless and expressing gratitude at every opportunity is something that we each must embrace and teach our children. I am thankful I do not live in Syria. I am thankful I am not fighting a killer disease. I am thankful that I am educated. etc etc etc I am thankful and reminded, that I have enough.
dixie
I am thankful for the great team I work with at The Richmond Hospital Surgical day care and Post anesthetic care unit. Many of these people I have worked with over the years in other departments and we all enjoy our jobs and have fun caring for awesome patients and this makes my life enjoyable. I also have a great and supportive family to go home to everyday. Life is great for me.
amarjit
I am thankfull for waking up to another day. I am thankfull for being able to walk, talk, see, hear and smell.I am thankfull for food to eat, clothes to wear and a roof over my head.I am thankfull for having an education and a job I love.I am thankfull for family and the great country:canada
Amarjit R.N/R.P.N.
Linda
I’m thankful that I get to come to work to a job I love and with a team of people who are all supportive.
Sarah Fritz
The BIG things i am thankful for:
-Despite how devastating it was to lose my Mum, it made my relationships with my brother and dad stronger.
-My husband and step-kids provided loving and unfaltering support in the aftermath of losing my mum, the resulting depression that followed and then the eventual solution of the existential crisis.
-My family and friends encouraging me to go back to school and cheering me on all the way to graduation.
-My career…I never thought I would say that I loved my job, but I truly do. Empowering people is awesome!
-The positive relationship that we have with my husband’s ex-wife and her husband. It’s all hands on deck and we support each other through this crazy ride called parenthood. Our motto: One team, one dream.
-My awesome in-laws. I wish that they lived closer because they are ridiculously fun to be around.
The little things I am thankful for:
-VIDEO GAMES (particularly the Super Mario Brothers franchise)
-Lap cat cuddles and a good book in front of a crackling fire
-A rousing night of board games with friends
-Our pillowtop bed
-Toe socks
-A good cup of tea
Samantha
I am grateful to have a healthy lovely daughter, to be alive, have a job, roof over my head, family that’s close by and be able to do what I love to do!
Katy Tucker
I am thankful for my family, my two beautiful children, friends, and co-workers (who make a little Canadian family for me), my pets, my wonderful job that is fulfilling and interesting, a house that I can renovate to my hearth’s content, two great countries to call my own, good health, love, and this interesting, complicated, beautiful world and all the people and creatures and vegetation and earth and water in it!
Amanda
Everyday I am extremely grateful for my friends, family, job, education, health, happiness, abundance and all the love around me. Very lucky to be where I am in life and I recognize the importance of appreciating these blessings..
Tamara Wojdylo
I’m thankful for opportunity to make a daily contribution to the success of VGH Foundation. Challenges keep me energized and at the top of my field. I deeply appreciate my colleagues who saw me on my darkest days, now I am thriving in this environment. I saw first hand how end of life patients are treated at VGH, which only inspires me to do my best when fundraising for healthcare excellence for everyone in BC.
Sarah
I’m so thankful for my helath, my home, and my family.
Nelia
I am grateful for my supportive family that allow me to work a full time 12hr job, go to school on the side, and involve my children in sports & religious education. With all the organized chaos in my life, I am thankful that I can still fit in a little “me time”.
Olivia Candille
I’m thankful for the quiet melancholy of the temperate rain forest this time of year. I love sitting on my porch swing sheltered form the rain just watching and listening.
Katy Tucker
your words are very beautiful and paint a picture in my mind
Tiny Villegas-Ty
I could easily give a hundred or more reasons for being thankful but foremost I am thankful for each day. I thank God for my family. I thank God for how blessed I am to live in Canada where I get to enjoy such exquisite beauties of nature, where I am never denied basic things in life such as water, food, clothing, etc. As I mentioned earlier, I could go on and on. I am even thankful that I have this opportunity to express my being thankful.
Barb
I feel incredibly lucky to have grown up in a safe country, with friends and family, and with so many opportunities open to me.
Christa Schneider
I am thankful that I have the time and opportunity to be a volunteer at the Richmond Hospital , where I volunteer as a navigator (way finder). I assist or try to assist so many various people(so many different ethnic groups) coming into the hospital and lead them to where they need to go, By doing this I feel I grow and improve myself to be a better person.
Hillary
I am thankful for the amazing staff on AMU who are supportive, helpful, knowledgeable, approachable, and team-oriented. I am thankful for my career, my colleagues, my knowledge and learning, my family and friends, and the wonderful life that I am fortunate enough to live.
Rosemary
I start each morning with a gratitude. However, when I am in times where I experience more challenge than I believe I can manage, I can go into overwhelm and that can cloud my joy…even for the simplist of things. I am not seeing clearly, and I forget all that I have. In those times I have learned to turn to a very simple gratitude. My breath. I start there: “I am grateful for my breath. I breathe. I breathe and I am alive.” And I begin look outside myself. I can start to count my blessings…one turns into more. And I realize how much I have.
zahra hussein
I am thankful for –
Fuzzy socks, mom’s homemade chocolate chip rice krispie squares, chai dates with friends, falling leaves and my south-facing balcony!
Thank you!
Zahra.
Lindsay Taberner
I am thankful for the amazing team at TCU! Our work is challenging and complex and requires the dedication of every team member to ensure that patients are getting the care they need. I could not do this without the support our team. Thank you all for making me laugh and finding the good moments each and every day 🙂
Delanvaz Demehri
I am grateful for benig in Canada, for the fresh air, the clean water, the good health, happy family and freedom. I was in Iran, then I went to India, from India I migrated to Vancouver, Canada. It has been 15 years that I am settled in Canada and we are learning and growing every day – Thank you all for this lovely opportunity and life.
Anju Bedi
I am grateful for my lovely family, wonderful friends, great working place, beautiful country, amazing city, and everything else I have in my life. I also thank God for not making us go through any natural disaster whereas in many part of the world numerous people are not so lucky and I pray for their well-being. I am also very thankful to all humans who do everything in their power to get along with each other and bring peace on earth.
Teri Albus
I am thankful that we live in the best counrty in the world. One in which we have a safe, conflict-free environment that allows every Canadian the freedom to express their individuality and the opportunity to pursue their dreams.
Shereen
I am thankful for my family and friends as well as my frontline nursing colleagues who are supportive and make it worthwhile coming to work each day 🙂
Kassandra
I am grateful for my feet.
People don’t appreciate their feet enough. Feet are taken for granted – we put so much stress on them everyday.
My feet take me everywhere I want/need/have to go. They also support me no matter what kind of day I am having, and don’t complain nearly as much as they should!
Therefore, I am very grateful for my feet
Gurpreet Sanghera
I’m thankful for my two healthy children and my siblings. I’m extremely thankful for my mother that has raised me to be the independant woman I am today, and still supports every decision that I make as an adult, whether it be smart or not so much. I’m thankful for every day I wake up in the morning, in good health. I’m thankful for my employer which allows me to make a living to support my children, and I’m thankful for the great co-workers, and superiors and have taught me all that I know of the industry which employs me…. 🙂
Kathleen Thomas
I am thankful for my two daughters and my grandchildren as they are the wind beneath my wings. I am also thankful because I work with older adults and their caregivers through the journey with dementia.They inspire me to do what I love about my career in nursing.
Mandie Basran
I am thankful for many things in my life, my job, my great co-workers and my health, but most importantly I am thankful for my sisters. After my mom passed away suddenly a few years ago, everything changed. No longer feeling happy about anything, life suddenly became very overwhelming. It took the strength of my sister’s being there for me and for each other to be able to get through it. I am so thankful to have them in my life.
STEFANIE LEBLANC
I am grateful for so much – my full time job, my housing, my toddler, my mom helping with child care, my reliable vehicle, my great friends!
Aviva Kennedy
I’m thankful each day. I’m thankful that I get to wake up healthy, in a warm bed, and to a beautiful family. I’m thankful that I get to take a warm shower, and then get dressed in clothes I love, to head to a job that I love, to work with a team of coworkers who who make me laugh and smile each day. I’m thankful that I was able to get an education that led me to the job I love. I’m thankful that I had the love and support of my parents to get the education that I got. I’m thankful that I grew up with the family I did, and that I have 2 healthy parents, parents that I now am proud to say are not just my parents, but 2 of my best friends. I’m thankful for all the wisdom and guidance provided to me and my brother. I’m thankful for the mistakes that I’ve made, and the good I have done. I’m thankful for what I’ve lost, and for what I’ve eared. I’m thankful for the hard times and the good times. I’m thankful that I have all of this to be thankful for.
Josefa Kontogiannis
I am grateful for my health because many don’t have theirs, my family because I wouldn’t be who I am without them them and for those people in my life who call me their friend because they have taught me to be a good friend.
Cynthia Ciezki
I am thankful for a supportive network of friends and family, especially during the challenging moments in life.
Lissette Mairena
I am thankful for my amazing husband, supportive family and great friends!
Saranya Rajesh
I am thankful for the great life I have. Its perfectly imperfect!
Jane
I am thankful for my family and friends!
Carol Lucas
HI
I am thankful to Dr Jastrzebski and Dr Barbour for their great support during my diagnosis with kidney disease here at VGH. They are both helpful and supportive while treating me and getting me back to being healthy.
Thank you to both of them for everything.
Candace Travis
I am grateful whenever I start a new book and know it’s really caught my interest. I try to read every type of book and keep them varied, so I expose myself to new things alll the time. But, that moment when you know it’s going to be a good book, that’s the best feeling.