Smiles are on the menu at Pizza Pizza as it kicks off its national Slices for Smiles campaign this week.
From April 23 – April 29, participating Pizza Pizza locations are serving up a 10-inch smile-shaped pizza for $2 or a discounted medium pepperoni pizza for $4.99 in support of Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. A portion of the proceeds from Pizza Pizza restaurants in south-central Ontario will be directed to SickKids.
This year, Pizza Pizza hopes to break the $1-million mark in total funds raised from its Slices for Smiles program in support of children’s charities. To date, the Slices for Smiles campaign from Pizza Pizza has raised more than $840,000.
Japanese legend has it that a wish will be granted to anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes. And in Japanese culture, it is customary to make paper cranes for people who are ill.
Today, a crane ceremony was held at The Hospital for Sick Children to mark the official countdown to the 11th annual Meagan’s Walk event. Students from schools across the Greater Toronto Area gathered at SickKids to give more than 1,000 handmade origami cranes to patient ambassadors who are fighting and have overcome brain tumours.
Meagan’s Walk: Creating A Circle of Hope is an annual walk that takes place on Mother’s Day weekend. The walk starts at Ontario Place and ends with a human chain that “hugs” the Hospital. It began as a tribute to the memory of Meagan Bebenek, who passed away in 2001 from an inoperable brain tumour.
Since 2001, Meagan’s Walk has raised more than $2.5 million dollars for brain tumour research and is an important community partner to SickKids.
This year’s Walk begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 12 at Ontario Place. To register, visit the Meagan’s Walk website.
Today is World Autism Awareness Day. A day to recognize that approximately one in 88 children will be born with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is also a day to recognize the progress that researchers like Dr. Stephen Scherer, the director of the Centre for Applied Genomics at SickKids, have made to understanding and treating autism.
ASD is a developmental disorder that affects the normal development of the brain’s social and communication skills. Children born with ASD often have trouble interacting socially and developing their verbal and nonverbal communication.
In the last decade, inspiring discoveries have emerged from SickKids. From pinpointing new autism susceptibility genes to accelerating the development of autism testing and treatments, the driven and passionate researchers at SickKids have propelled us closer to a cure than ever before.
Our pioneering researchers are working day and night to understand and treat children with ASD.
Our progress in the last few years has been promising. Imagine what the future holds.