After five years of planning, the Teeswater Medical Centre held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday to celebrate hitting its fundraising campaign goal.
The committee raised $2.6 million to fund the construction of the new medical hub for South Bruce.
Fundraising committee chair Dwight Leslie said it was a big job.
"When we took on the project and looked at the number, I would say there was probably a lot of doubters," he said. "But the committee itself believed, and we believed in what the community could give us, therefore our tagline of 'Community building community.' Today, we see the results of what took place. Our goal has been met, the building is operational, and we're ready to move forward for the community of Teeswater and South Bruce."
Opened in January, the not-for-profit centre was still striving to hit that fundraising goal two weeks ago, before some diamond-level sponsors - those that contribute $50,000 or more - came through.
Friday's event honoured all those that contributed, with diamond-level sponsors each taking a turn to speak and share their enthusiasm for the new centre.
John Peevers, Director of Community and Media Relations at Bruce Power, said this was a cause they were proud to get behind.
"It's so important to the community and all the donations, big and small, the community just got behind it as soon as the fundraising campaign started," he said. "To see what the committee was able to do, it was a really ambitious target they had of $2.6 million. Reaching it today is just the best possible finale that you could ask for."
Co-chair Paul Cronin says it's a relief to hit the goal, but the work continues for the Teeswater Medical Centre Inc.'s board of directors.
"Great that part of the project is done... but now it's the day-to-day operations," he said. "We definitely don't want to burden the Municipality and the taxpayers with the cost of the building so we've put a structure in place that it's funding itself."
The new centre is located at 28 Clinton Street, and is home to a family doctor, pharmacy, physiotherapist, esthetician, and hearing specialist.
Cronin said they're still looking for a second family doctor as well, but they're already in a position where they're making a small profit from the tenants' rents that will go toward building up their reserve funds.
The medical centre has been a great new home for the professionals there too, some of whom were operating in less-than-ideal spaces prior to its opening.
Aryo Mehrabi, Pharmacist and owner of Teeswater Pharmacy, was first operating in the back of Boomer's Cosy Restaurant when he opened a location in town. With no better options available, he and his wife Sally decided to make a major contribution to the centre, in the form of a diamond-level sponsorship.
"Starting this pharmacy for me was maybe 50 per cent investment or things like that, but 50 per cent I really wanted to make a change in the community," he said. "When I saw they started this fundraising campaign, I was really happy about that. And then when they said they were a little bit short of money, I did my best, I talked to my wife and she said 'Why not?' So we tried to be a small part of this."
Local Karissa Schiestel, of Hear Right Canada said when she was approached to operate out of the clinic, it was an opportunity she couldn't pass up.
Now, she's thrilled to be working alongside all types of medical professionals.
"I'm a lucky gal to have the other tenants here. Jenna (Jones), Boby (Kurian), upstairs pharmacy and doctors have been so fantastic," she said. "It's been really nice to be able to support each other as well too. If I have a patient here with any other health needs or physio, I'm able to pass them over. So everyone's been so good at helping each other."
