SickKids Get Better Gifts for the Holidays
Saturday, November 26, 2016
During the month of December, our school board celebrates the virtue of charity. This virtue encompasses a range of small acts and habits that affect our own community as well as the larger global community. It can be as simple as giving someone a smile and participating in a neighbourhood cleanup, or it can be expressed on a larger scale by collecting non-perishable food for the needy or raising funds for charitable organizations. This year, I have chosen to forgo the traditional gift exchange at our annual staff Christmas party and, instead, have purchased a Get Better Gift in support of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).
SickKids Get Better Gifts is a catalogue of gifts available online at GetBetterGifts.com. What makes this catalogue unique is that it allows you to give a donation to SickKids on behalf of someone on your gift list while simultaneously providing a special gift to sick children who have to stay at the hospital over the holidays. It is a unique opportunity to help almost 300 young patients by providing them with a few comforts of home that have been selected by you.
Gift ideas that will bring joy to SickKids patients and their families include the following:
Arts & Crafts Supplies - $12
Arts & Crafts programs can help children cope with hospital stays and ensures they get to do some of the activities they may be missing at school and home. The Art Therapy program at SickKids and encourage children to take their minds off treatments, surgeries and tests, so they can focus on just being a kid again.
Holiday Cooking & Baking Supplies - $20*
Our cooking and baking programs help sick children have fun and feel successful. With this gift of Holiday Cooking & Baking Supplies, you’re giving children the supplies they need to bake holiday treats and make the holiday season a little brighter. Child Life specialists know that maintaining familiar activities helps sick children feel just like any other kid.
Video Games & Controllers - $36*
For those that can't leave their bed, wireless controllers mean they can escape from their daily and sometimes difficult hospital routines. At SickKids, they have a variety of gaming consoles - Xbox, Playstation, Wii, Kinect, DS - that all have new games constantly being released. This gift will help expand their selection of games so kids ages 6 to 18 can play the latest games and get an often-needed distraction.
Crib Mobile - $65*
Fun shapes, bright colours and soothing sounds can replace a sterile overhead view for a baby with something much more vibrant – a beautiful, spinning mobile. With this gift, you’ll help fund the Child Life programs at SickKids, including these important tools to calm our smallest patients.
Make twice the difference.
This year, the Orinoco Foundation will generously match* a selection of Get Better Gifts. Simply look for the matched tag online to find a present that will have twice the impact on children’s lives at SickKids. * Up until December 31, 2016, gifts will be matched up to a maximum of $98K
With Get Better Gifts, not only are you giving a truly heartfelt gift to someone special, you are also making the holidays a little brighter for children at SickKids. This year, I selected a Wish List Gift that will fund the Toy and Game fund at SickKids. This matched gift will help provide the means for Hospital staff and parents to work together to get the most appropriate item from their wish list, so that a child does not miss out because of their illness.
I purchased this Wish List Gift in honour of my nephew Luis, a compassionate young man who has spent a number of years volunteering in his community. His charitable efforts serve as an example that we should all follow.
To browse the full catalogue of gifts online, visit getbettergifts.com. Order gifts by December 2 and you can have your card sent to any Canadian address by December 24.
Disclosure: I am participating as an ambassador for the SickKids Foundation in support of the Get Better Gifts campaign. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own.
12 COMMENTS
Great way to support Sick Lids , all kids deserve gifts , thanks for sharing the Holiday Cooking & Baking Supplies is my favorite , Treen Goodwin Rafflecopter name
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. Although, the kid in me was kind of leaning towards to the video games and controllers gift...
DeleteI absolutely LOVE this!! what a great way to help bring Christmas to those children at Sick Kids! It has always hit home when it comes to children but now after having my own AND my nephew just recently spending a month at sick kids shortly after being born, this really touches my heart !
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to learn your nephew had to spend a month in the hospital. But glad that he will be spending the holidays at home.
DeleteI'm loving this! Its very inspiring! Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAnne Taylor
I particularly love that you get to pick exactly where your donation goes.
DeleteThis is such a great gift idea! There are so many people on my list who expressed that they don't want or need anything this year -- and I have done the same. This would be perfect for them!
ReplyDeleteI have a few people who have expressed the same thing. Glad to have Get Better Kids as the perfect alternative.
DeleteThis is the perfect gift for those that everything. Giving to children and help distract them from their daily medical rituals.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I think the arts & craft one would be a good one. Thanks for sharing, going to do this! (Judy Cowan)
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful idea <3 Having seen a friend go through illness and many trips to Sick Kids, this opportunity to give is even more special to me
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea; I wish there was more of a push for these types of things in our schools!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to leave a comment here on Toronto Teacher Mom. Hope you have a great day!