The Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues this weekend at Centre 200 in Sydney, but the festivities include more than just curling.

Volunteers and curling team members were working the phones Sunday during a telethon broadcast on TSN to raise money for the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.

The foundation was created 19-years-ago, shortly after well-known Olympic curler, Sandra Schmirler died of cancer at the age of 36.

Robin Wilson, foundation organizer and friend, says it is way to keep Schmirler’s memory alive.

“When Sandra passed away, it was maybe one of two times that a sports person was recognized right across the country, in terms of funeral was broadcast on two networks,” says Wilson. “Her legacy, her memory, her love of family, is what we all celebrate.”

Schmirler's two daughters didn't get to have much of a relationship with their mother; they were only babies when she passed away, but through the foundation, that relationship has changed.

“I was only eight-months when she passed,” says daughter Jenna England. “So people my age never got to experience while she was alive, so the foundation and memory it brings, keeps her in people's minds.”

“You just learn her personality and who she was,” says daughter Sara England “I was so young, we never really got to know much about her, so hearing stories and seeing pictures, that's how we get that sense of personality and who she was. That's what counts the most.”

On Sunday, cheques for $20,000 were given to three hospitals in Nova Scotia, including the Cape Breton Regional.

“The $20,000 will be going to support the purchase of a billy metre and a saturation monitor, which will measure oxygen flow,” says Brad Jacobs with the Cape Breton Hospital Foundation. “It’s really important when moms and premature babies are in the NICU that the specialists have the equipment to do their job as best they can.”

Volunteer Andrew Laurendeau knows firsthand what the lifesaving equipment means.

“I was in the hospital for two months and they helped me,” he says.

Laurendeau raised $17,000 through bake sales and selling tickets.

“We have a huge goal this year. $450,000 is what we're trying to raise today,” says executive director Robin Wilson. “The money we raise goes towards helping save babies lives by purchasing lifesaving equipment for hospital NICUs right across the country.”

The telethon continues Sunday evening until the last rock is thrown.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.