Children’s faces were all aglow on Thursday night in the Atrium at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).
For the first time in the Hospital’s 134-year history, the Olympic Flame passed through the doors of SickKids to make one of its many stops along a coast-to-coast, 106-day journey. It wasn’t simply one torch but a total of FOUR torches and torchbearers that entered into the Atrium at SickKids.
The lit Flame was carried in by Stephanie Belanger, a social worker in the Crisis & Psychosis program at SickKids, and made its grand entrance in the Atrium a little after 7 p.m.
Stephanie and the other torchbearers were greeted by more than 300 cheering patients, their families and SickKids staff. Team SickKids, who took part in the World Transplant Games this summer in Australia, lined the running route decked out in their Canada uniforms and proudly displayed their medals. Ben Mulroney made a special guest appearance to host the event.
Stephanie raised the flame to light the torch of the next torchbearer. In total, four flames were lit in the Atrium and the Canadian Anthem was sung. Patients and their families stood along the windows on the eight floors of the Atrium to participate in this momentous event.
Along its journey, the Flame will pass through more than 12,000 Canadian hands en route to B.C. Place in British Columbia where the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron will signal the start of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.
RBC is a Premier National Partner of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and a presenting partner of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay. It chose to bring the Olympic Spirit to SickKids and requested that a SickKids staff member from psychiatry carry the torch.
RBC has a long-standing history with the Hospital; this year marks the 22nd anniversary of their relationship. To date, a dedicated team of RBC employees have raised more than $2.6 million for SickKids. In addition, RBC Foundation committed $2 million in 2007 to further much-needed training, research and outreach for paediatric mental health at The Hospital for Sick Children.
Torch photos taken by Dodge Baena and Atrium photo taken by Jay Charendoff