St. Paul's Lights of Hope

Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Foundation celebrates the 27th anniversary of its annual Lights of Hope hospital fundraising event over the Christmas season in 2024.

This article includes the following information about Lights of Hope:

Lights of Hope Launch Night | St. Paul’s Christmas Lights | About the Lights of Hope Lights | About St. Paul’s Hospital | Other Information

Vancouver’s Lights of Hope Christmas Lights

If you’ve ever driven down Burrard Street at night between late November and the beginning of January you’ve no doubt noticed the amazing Christmas lights on St. Paul’s Hospital. A Vancouver landmark during the winter holiday season, the front of the giant brick building’s exterior is lit up with illuminated stars from top to bottom.

The launch event happens in November each year, when the hospital gets lit up and celebrates with fireworks and live entertainment.

In 2024, launch night is on Wednesday, November 27th, and the lights stay on until January 3rd, 2025. At the event on the 27th there are photo opportunities with Santa, craft activities and free hot chocolate.

The venue for the launch celebrations is outside of St. Paul’s Hospital, at 1081 Burrard Street.

St. Paul's Lights of Hope — St. Paul’s on Burrard Street at Night

Lights of Hope Launch Night

In 2024 the launch night for Lights of Hope is on Wednesday, November 27th. On that day, beginning at 6:00 pm, St. Paul’s Hospital is lit up with Christmas illuminations.

The launch event runs from around 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm with the lights going on and fireworks taking off a little later in the evening. There are food trucks, a few speeches, the recognition of major donors and performances by local choirs.

For the most up-to-date information, click Lights of Hope Community Celebration.

St. Paul’s Christmas Lights

If you look closely at the lights on the hospital during the Christmas season you’ll notice numerous star decorations and the names of people and corporations. That’s because the Lights of Hope is a major fundraising event for the St. Paul’s Foundation which raises money for major purchases for the hospital.

Donors buy “stars” on the building which make up the decorations on the hospital. The cost of each star ranges from about $1,000 to $50,000, and the larger the donation, the bigger the star.

For $1,000, donors become a “Friend” of the hospital and get their names listed in the building’s courtyard. “Partners” donate $2,500 and get their names on a shared star in the hospital’s archway, and $5,000 “Bronze” donors get individual stars that are three-feet in size.

“Silver” donors get a four-foot star for contributing $10,000, “Gold” sponsors get a six-foot star in exchange for $25,000, and “Platinum” donors get their names and logos in massive 15-foot stars for contributions of $50,000 or more. Major donors in these categories generally comprise large corporations, media organizations and affluent local families.

In 2024, folks have the opportunity to donate by purchasing a star for their home from St. Paul’s Hope At Home website.

Over the course of a typical year the St. Paul’s Foundation raises between about $20 million and $30 million, with a significant portion of that coming from the Lights of Hope campaign.

About the Lights of Hope Lights

The Lights of Hope fundraising event has been lighting up St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver’s Burrard Street and Helmcken intersection since 1998.

The annual event usually takes 150 volunteers about a month-and-a-half to set up. The display includes over 100,000 light bulbs and hundreds of illuminated donor stars.

The lights and star decorations are illuminated each year from mid to late November until around the first week of January.

To donate to the Lights of Hope campaign, click St. Paul’s Donations.

St. Pauls Hospital Nativity — St. Paul’s Nativity Scene from Previous Years

About St. Paul’s Hospital

St. Paul’s Hospital is an acute care hospital built in 1912 and located at 1081 Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver. Founded originally in 1894 by the Sisters of Providence, it’s a Roman Catholic faith-based health care provider that serves patients of all economic and faith backgrounds.

Today St. Paul’s has over 400 beds and provides health care services to over 380,000 patients per year. The hospital is also a world-class teaching and research facility.

To learn more about the hospital’s history, click Story of Providence Health Care.