Smitty’s Oyster House on Main Street Owner and liver transplant recipient Matt Thompson is keeping up his quest to raise funds for lifesaving transplant research and care programs this April in honour of Organ Donation Awareness Month.
Thompson will donate 25 cents from each oyster shucked and served at the Mount Pleasant seafood hotspot throughout the month after 6 p.m. to the Transplant Research Foundation of British Columbia (TRFBC), which supports innovative transplantation research to benefit the lives of organ recipients across the province.
In September of 2022, Thompson received a liver transplant at Vancouver General Hospital and shortly afterwards launched a fundraising page in an effort to help purchase new lifesaving equipment and fund patient care programs for VGH’s Solid Organ Transplant Unit.
Last month, Thompson also helped organize a successful ‘Shuck ’n’ Roll’ fundraiser at Smitty’s where some of the city’s best shuckers came together to raise more than $2,000 for the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation and its mission to provide the best, most specialized care for all British Columbians.