The end of school is just around the corner but before getting too carried away with thoughts of summer fun, thank your child’s teachers for all they do with a SickKids Get Better Gift.
With a SickKids Get Better Gift, you can show your child’s teachers how much you value their hard work while brightening the lives of kids at The Hospital for Sick Children. Browse through the online symbolic giving catalogue for some really thoughtful and convenient gift ideas.
Help support important services at the Hospital with a gift that can provide: arts and crafts supplies that help children cope with hospital stays ($10); scrapbooking materials so children can commemorate all their important hospital milestones ($15); and books for the Hospital Reading Room to provide SickKids patients with an escape from their daily and sometimes difficult hospital routine ($20).
Wrap up this great year with a symbolic gift. Give your child’s teachers SickKids Get Better Gifts by visiting www.sickkidsgetbettergifts.com or calling 416-813-7992.
Erick Bauer’s daily routine is anything but normal. The 27-year-old takes more than 60 pills a day to keep his vital organs working properly since being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the age of six.
Erick is the co-founder of the Friends For Life Foundation, a Toronto-based organization that raises funds and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis Canada and the Oncology Unit at The Hospital for Sick Children. The Foundation was created in 2005 by Erick and his childhood friend Steve Cameron, who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2001.
“Steve and I have known each other since middle school. When Steve got sick with cancer in high school, we connected on a different level, as two young people dealing with life-threatening illnesses,” Erick said. “Friends for Life started out as a small, grassroots event at our high school and over the past seven years the event has grown and taken on a life of its own.”
This Saturday, June 23, Erick and Steve are hosting the seventh annual Friends for Life charity benefit. This year's event, which is taking place at LOFTRaum @ UrbanAmish, will feature musical performances, a live and silent auction, culinary creations from some of Toronto's top chefs and the chance to mix and mingle with hundreds of socially conscious young professionals. Erick and Steve hope to raise $50,000 for Cystic Fibrosis Canada and SickKids at the event.
“The event features food from some of the top catering companies and restaurants in Toronto, a live jazz quartet, and a large live and silent auction,” Erick said. “Two leading cystic fibrosis researchers will also speak at the event about some of the latest research and discoveries in the field.”
To learn more about the Friends for Life Foundation, visit www.fflf.ca or check out their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-for-Life-Foundation/165267503531513 and Twitter at @FFLFoundation.
Last night we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the RBC Walk-a-thon for The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) on the Hospital’s front lawn. Almost 200 RBC employees, friends and family departed from Royal Bank Plaza on Bay Street after work, decked out in blue and yellow, with happy faced balloons for the children.
This celebratory event is the culmination of a six-week employee fundraising campaign which includes activities ranging from chocolate and CD sales, an employee payroll deduction, a tricycle race, BBQs and much more. This year’s campaign raised more than $240,000 in support of children’s mental health initiatives. Thank you to all of the employees, organizers and donors who made this year’s walk an incredible success!