My 2023 Birthday Wish for CHEO

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.

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.

Music & Memory

For the past few months I have been volunteering at the Glebe Community Centre with the Music & Memory program. If you're unfamiliar with the program, I urge you to watch the video included below. 

MUSIC & MEMORY℠ is a non-profit organization that brings personalized music into the lives of the elderly or infirm through digital music technology, vastly improving quality of life.

We train nursing home staff and other elder care professionals, as well as family caregivers, how to create and provide personalized playlists using iPods and related digital audio systems that enable those struggling with Alzheimer’s, dementia and other cognitive and physical challenges to reconnect with the world through music-triggered memories.

By providing access and education, and by creating a network of MUSIC & MEMORY℠ Certified elder care facilities, we aim to make this form of personalized therapeutic music a standard of care throughout the health care industry.

via http://musicandmemory.org/

We are truly lucky to have this program in Ottawa and I have seen, first hand, it's effect on residents. People who won't speak and barely acknowledge their external surroundings start smiling, bopping along and some even sing! This is a great program and I'm personally reaching out to A) make you aware, and B) solicit donations. 

At the moment, I've been tasked with finding music from the following artists. If you have CDs or would like to donate some iTunes gift cards to the cause, please be in touch! CONTACT ME.

Julio Iglesias
Feist
Engelbert Humperdinck
Barry Manilow
Barbara Streisand
George Benson
Gypsy (Broadway musical)
John Coltrane
Louis Armstrong
Quincy Jones

Chanticleer
Sammy Davis Jr.
Tony Bennett
Rob Orbison
Barry White
John Secada
Doobie Brothers – (song:music is the doctor)
Chris de Burghs – (song: lady in red)

Yanni