Why We Are Organizing a Fundraising Concert for Langley Memorial Hospital

By Clare

Ever since our ER visit at Langley Memorial Hospital, I kept thinking about the hospital.

Before that, of course I already knew hospitals were under pressure. Everyone knows that. We hear about overcrowding, long wait times, lack of resources, all of that on the news. But knowing something in theory is very different from going through it yourself. Once it becomes personal, it lands differently.

After we got home, I kept thinking about the people working there. The doctors, the nurses, the staff. How much pressure they must be under. How much they are expected to carry. And also how much of a difference it makes just to have care close to home. I really wished to be able to do something.

Then at one point, I actually asked AI how I could win the lottery. Hahaha.

I’m not even joking. The jackpot at the time was fifty million dollars, and I remember thinking: honestly, maybe that is the only way I could ever really do something substantial for a hospital. If I won fifty million, then maybe I could actually help from the ground up in some meaningful way.

AI, being very sensible, basically told me to be realistic and then asked why I wanted to win the lottery in the first place.

And my answer was immediate: because that kind of money would actually let me do something significant.

But then the conversation took a more useful turn.

AI pointed out that as musicians, maybe we could start with the thing we actually know how to do. We can perform. We can write. We can bring people together. We can use what we have.

And that was really where this concert started.

Not from some grand master plan.
Not from “let us organize a fundraiser” in some polished, official-sounding way.
It started from that feeling of helplessness after coming home from the hospital, and then slowly realizing that maybe the answer was not to do something huge and unrealistic. Maybe the answer was simply to do the thing that is actually ours to do and bring awareness as much as we can.

So we contacted the hospital.

And I have to say, we were really grateful that they replied so quickly and warmly. That made a huge difference too, because once someone says yes, something that was just an idea in your head suddenly starts becoming real.

As I mentioned in the previous blog post, I came across a letter written by Dr. Richard Hsu, an Emergency Department Physician at Langley Memorial Hospital. One sentence in particular really stayed with me: the Emergency Department was built to accommodate 68 patients, but now sees up to 128 patients a day in that same space.

You do not need to add much commentary to that. That number already says enough.

He also mentioned some of the urgent equipment needs at the hospital: temporary pacemakers, ceiling-mounted lifts, and an intensive care ventilator. Again, these are not abstract things. These are not “nice extras.” These are the kinds of things that directly affect patient care.

I think that is part of what hit me the most.

People often talk about “supporting health care” in a very broad way. But when you read something like that, it becomes much more concrete. Supporting health care can literally mean helping a hospital get the equipment it needs to stabilize someone, help someone breathe, or make recovery safer for both patients and staff.

That is not abstract at all.

One thing Dr. Hsu said that really moved me was the idea that high-quality care close to home makes such a difference.

Because when something happens, close to home matters.
It matters practically.
It matters emotionally.
It matters for families.
It matters when people are exhausted, scared, in pain, or just trying to get through something difficult.

And once you have experienced that, it is hard not to care in a more specific way.

So this concert is our way of doing something.

We hope people will come and enjoy the music, of course. But we also hope this can be a way to draw a little more attention to the reality of strained medical resources, and a way for people to participate if they want to help.

If you are able to attend, we would love to see you there.
If you cannot come, we hope you might still consider donating.
And either way, we are simply grateful to be able to do this.

Concert Details

The Meeks Duo – Charity Fundraising Concert
Saturday, April 25, 2026
7:30 PM
Rose Gellert Hall
Langley Community Music School
4899 207 Street, Langley, BC
Admission by donation