The Sandra Schmirler Foundation will be presenting a cheque to the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation this Saturday.

Sources tell NL News the donation will be in the mid-to-high five-figure range with the donation going to support the NICU inside the Gaglardi Tower.

“You will have to wait to hear the exact amount, but a certain number of people on our board will be at the cheque presentation and will be touring the new NICU (at RIH),” Sandra Schmirler Foundation Board Chair Bernadette McIntyre told NL News.

The Foundation raises money at the Scotties Tournament of the Hearts each year to support neonatal units across Canada in honour of Olympic champion Sandra Schmirler, who died of cancer in March 2000 at the age of 36.

McIntyre says a portion of the money raised during a telethon Sunday – in addition to a crowd sweep at Sandman Centre on Friday – will stay in Kamloops.

“The telethon is our big fundraiser, but we also do a crowd sweep later where we pass the bucket around the arena and people pop in whatever they can donate and all of this goes to a good cause and of course, a nice share of that money will stay in Kamloops,” she said.

She adds that that Sunday is Sandra Schmirler Day at the Scotties.

“We will be running the telethon from the time the first draw goes on the ice until the last draw is off the ice and we will have phones set up at the arena and at the Kamloops Curling Club,” McIntyre said.

“Volunteers and Scotties teams will come to answer those phones as well as our board of directors will be there and we want people to ring those phones and donate to this wonderful cause for little babies.”

McIntyre says foundation has raised over $20-million for 93 hospitals across Canada over the past 20 years.