My 2023 Birthday Wish for CHEO
We DID it! We have now collectively given over eleven thousand dollars worth of gifts to kids receiving in patient treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario aka CHEO! Thank you for helping me celebrate my birthday every spring with such a kind gesture. You ROCK!
Thank you all so much for your kindness - I was able to really celebrate turning 37 with this years edition of the Birthday Wish campaign. Every spring, I promote giving a gift to a kid receiving in patient treatment at CHEO through their Child Life department.
I started this in 2019, raising over $1,000 in this first year. This helped me set a baseline for future goals… For example, I double that to around 2.5k in 2020… 5k in 2021 and 7.5k in 2022. This year I went BIG with a dream of hitting 10k and…
Well…
Words cannot describe how special this is - you are giving sunshine on a cloudy day. I still have some of the things I was given (by surprise) while living at CHEO. Just ask my husband, Ryan, why we have SO MANY BLANKETS! Blankets, activity books, craft kids and more; your money buys a gift to a child, age 0 through 18, who is receiving in patient treatment at the hospital.
This is an ONGOING fundraiser; as long as I am around to celebrate my birthday, any person who wishes to, will be able to give a gift to a kid in hospital.
CLICK HERE to learn about CHEO’s Child Life department.
CLICK HERE to learn about other ways to give & perhaps start your own fundraiser.
I will be moving the goalpost to 12.5k for 2024 - and if we hit that, it means that in six years we’ve given approximate 500 gifts! As it stands, for the fifth year of us doing this, we’ve given a mighty impressive 455 gifts!
REMINDER: You can donate at any time towards this fundraiser. Some people choose to give on their own birthdate, or in honour of someone special. All proceeds will always go towards CHEO’s Child Life dept. who do important work for not only the little patients but their families, too.
Amy Volume's BIRTHDAY WISH - Year 4!
Help me celebrate my birthday by giving a gift to a child receiving in patient treatment at CHEO (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario). All proceeds go directly to CHEO’s Child Life department who provide kids with wonderful and much needed distractions in many forms: books, toys, craft kits and other forms of entertainment.
I’m turning 36 on April 25th (woah!) - help me celebrate by buying a gift for a kid receiving in patient treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, aka CHEO! All money raised goes to CHEO’s Child Life fund and you can learn more about the fund by CLICKING HERE.
Launched in 2019, we’ve raised $5,000.00 and I”m hoping to add another $2,500.00 in 2022. This is a mighty ambitious goal but, as long as I have a birthday, I’ll keep trying to provide entertainment and levity to those who deserve it most: kids in hospital.
This cause is very important to me. I am a CHEO kid. I spend a lot of my childhood in hospital, diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at eighteen months (1988) it was Sick Kids in Toronto until CHEO built their own Rheumatology Clinic (which I believe is the Infectious Diseases clinic in today’s terms).
As you can imagine, I missed a lot of school - never did make it on to any teams (sporting, social or otherwise) - in fact, I missed my own highschool graduation due to joint fusion surgery.
When you’re little and in need of a smile, CHEO’s Child Life department delivers. Please consider giving a gift to a child to help me celebrate my birthday. This fundraising effort is ongoing, year round. If you cannot donate at this time, there is no pressure! There are no deadlines! I just ‘get loud’ about it every April because that’s when I celebrate my birthday.
Help me celebrate by making a financial donation OR by buying a gift from my Wish List (will be delivered to my work address and brought to CHEO by me):
The photo above this text is of me delivering gifts & money to CHEO. This was my first year buggin’ you for donations. If you consider the average gift costing $25, to date, we have collectively given over 200 gifts to kids (aged 0-18) receiving in patient treatment at CHEO.
Birthday Wish for CHEO
Last year I was inspired to dedicate my birthday to kids in treatment at CHEO. I know how long and boring those days can be in isolation - I think we can all relate, too, on some level thanks to this outbreak.
This year, things will be a little different. Yes. I’m still getting older on the 25th. Yes. There are still a lot of children, from babies to teens, receiving life saving (and life altering) treatment in hospital. Many are confined to small, isolated rooms. Some are cut off from their friends and family. Others have to miss out on normal kid stuff because they are sick.
To help make their day a little brighter, I decided to direct any and all attention from myself to them.
Were you going to buy me a card? Were you thinking of taking me out for lunch, dinner, a pint or a coffee? Were you maybe going to gift me a scratch card or cold hard cash (a classic granny move)?
If you answered ‘yes’ or ‘I was thinking of maybe doing that’. First, thank you! Second, please throw that money here:
This is my second year doing this for the kids and, working with the CHEO Foundation, I have made sure 100% of the proceeds go directly to FUN! Art supplies, craft kits, toys, stuffies, movies and other sources of entertainment.
Last year, I was blown away with all the support and gifts given for the kids. This year, I will not be accepting any physical donations in person. I do want to see the faces of those who ARE giving though, so please send me selfies of you with your BIGGEST smiles alongside any messages you wish to give to children in treatment.
This campaign will last the entire month of April. Please help me spread the word for our young friends self-isolating at our wonderful CHEO.
HUGE SUCCESS on the Birthday Wish Front!
Thanks to YOU - we delivered a whole lotta awesome to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario!
Toys, craft supplies, books, DVDs, cash and more were given to help put smiles on the faces of children receiving treatment at CHEO as part of my ‘Birthday Wish’ campaign.
I have decided to leave this campaign active. We have surpassed my initial goal (set at $1,000) but I would like this to stay active for ongoing donations. This will be an annual thing, so long as I have support of my employers, the hospital and wonderful humans like you.
Thank you for giving. Thank you for sharing. Keep this cause in mind, 100% of the proceeds go directly to FUN STUFF for kids (aged 0-18) at CHEO.
If you want to launch your own fundraiser the process is very simple.
Visit cheofoundation.com/donate, create your page and decide where you’d like the funds to go then get raisin’!
Mandy Arsenault, CHEO’s Community Engagement Officer, says she there are so many options for people to give back to the hospital “[ranging] from birthdays... fundraisers [things like] lemonade stands and bake sales'... i'm here to support them."
Mandy helped set me up to raise funds for the Child Life department. Here’s more information that could help you if you’re considering the same for your next birthday, event or in honour of someone who’s life was touched by CHEO:
Thank you!
Julie Anne Brown from Sotheby’s International Realty Canada
