I want to send huge congratulations to our friends in the North for being the number one Walmart store in Canada for fundraising as part of a Children’s Miracle Network initiative.

On Tuesday, July 21, SickKids Foundation celebrated the success of the North Bay Walmart for raising almost $50,000 in miracle balloon sales for the 2009 Children’s Miracle Network campaign. This is an outstanding amount for a community that is comprised of approximately 54,000 residents. To show this store how truly proud we are, representatives from the Foundation (include me!) travelled to North Bay to host a celebration and to acknowledge the store management, employees and community for their outstanding support. Local media also showed up to cover and share this good news throughout the Northern region.

Each year, Walmart associates across Canada reach out to their communities by selling miracle balloons and conducting in-store fundraising campaigns for one month to support their local Children’s Miracle Network hospital. In North Bay, funds raised support The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto. 

In 2008, SickKids saw more than 200 patients from the North Bay area. The funds raised during this campaign will not only benefit these patients but will be used towards the Foundation’s highest priority needs for SickKids, which includes patient care, equipment and research. SickKids is one of the best children’s hospitals in the world. It is one of the largest paediatric academic health science centres in North America and it conducts more research than any other paediatric health-care institution in Canada. On average we see 100,000 patients per year.

We are so proud of the North Bay Walmart. This year, 312 Walmart stores participated in the miracle balloon campaign and North Bay came out as number one. The store’s management and employees, along with the entire community have shown generous support to our hospital. The funds this community raised are outstanding and it’s a great example of a small town with a big heart. 

Thank you North Bay, your community serves as a reminder that great things can be accomplished despite hard economic times. The children we serve at SickKids are in need of the most specialized care and we depend on support from all communities near and far to continue to provide the very best in equipment, care and medical breakthroughs.