Lily Lee's first contribution to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and Chinatown neighbourhoods was as a 21-year-old community nurse in the 1950s when she was fresh out of university. Now, the 88-year-old is making a different kind of contribution — a personal donation of $3.8 million toward a local community health unit.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Vancouver Chinatown Foundation
Lee, 88, is now making a different kind of contribution — a personal donation of $3.8 million toward a community health unit that will serve both the Chinatown and Downtown Eastside communities. Lee, who made her donation through the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation last week, said her early experiences in the neighbourhood more than 65 years ago had stayed with her and she maintained “a soft spot” for its residents.
Lee grew up in Alert Bay and moved to Vancouver at age 16 to go to UBC, where she met her future husband, Robert Lee, who went on to become a prominent real estate developer and philanthropist. In honour of Lee’s donation, the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation and the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation have proposed that the centre be named the Lily Lee Community Health Centre Hastings.Lee said the donation funds came from early investment in Vancouver’s real estate market.
She said her mother was excited to contribute toward a facility to benefit residents of both Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside.
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