The generosity of Manitobans moved the leader of the Children’s Hospital Foundation to tears as he celebrated the success of a five-year, $86 million fundraising campaign.
“It definitely chokes me up. It’s amazing what tens of thousands of donors can do in building our community,” Stefano Grande said, pausing to dab at his eyes with a tissue.
“We talked to Manitobans about the needs of our hospital and research institute and our community responded overwhelmingly.”
Kristin Funari and daughter Natalie look on as their stuffy is ’scanned‘ at the Teddy Bears‘ Picnic in Assiniboine Park Sunday.
Grande, the foundation’s president and chief executive officer, met with reporters Sunday to announce the Better Futures fundraising campaign had exceeded its $75 million donation target.
The fundraiser launched in 2019 with the goal of addressing critical needs related to infrastructure, equipment and programs within the Children’s Hospital and its accompanying research institute on the Health Sciences Centre campus.
It achieved 70 per cent of its fundraising target in the first three years, becoming the largest donor-driven fundraising campaign in the province’s history.
To date, around 90 per cent of the donations have been spent on hospital improvements, including a new cardiac care centre expected to serve 6,000 children annually, Grande said.
Located near the hospital’s emergency department and intensive care unit, the centre features four examination rooms, a social work office and several other spaces for medical testing and administration.
Conor and his mother, Leslie Koehler, test the reflexes of his stuffy as medical student Cody Dangerfield looks on.
Better Futures also bankrolled a new fluoroscopy diagnostics lab unit, 24 remote monitoring hospital beds, a 2,000 square foot Indigenous healing space and a pair of children’s play areas.
Some of the funding was dedicated to revitalizing the Children’s Hospital’s emergency department, the only one of its kind in the province. Seventy patient beds across six hospital wards were enhanced, and a slate of equipment, research studies and patient programs were financed, Grande said.
The Children’s Hospital treats approximately 130,000 kids from Manitoba, northwestern Ontario and Nunavut each year.
“Less than 25 per cent of our community are kids, but they are 100 per cent of our future. If we invest in children who are sick and injured today, they will have a better future, they will be more productive and we will have a better society,” Grande said.
Sunday’s announcement coincided with the return of the foundation’s annual Teddy Bears’ Picnic.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
A bear undergoes an examination.
The free event was expected to draw up to 30,000 people to Assiniboine Park to enjoy live entertainment, games and health-related programming for kids, said foundation spokesperson Kathryn McBurney.
Thousands of parents and their children were gathered in the park by noon, with long lines forming outside some of the picnic’s more popular activity tents.
Children clutching teddy bears clamoured to get inside the Dr. Goodbear Clinic, where the stuffed animals could be triaged and sent through a variety of faux medical tests, including MRIs, X-rays and casting.
The picnic, now in its 35th year, is intended to educate children and alleviate potential anxiety they may feel if they have to interact with the health-care system, McBurney said.
The event had not taken place in-person since 2019, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Grande said.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
Tara Kennedy and her daughter, Abigail, get their bear checked out.
“This picnic really speaks to the ‘Why?’ of why we are doing this (fundraiser),” he said. “You look around and see thousands of kids walking around with their stuffies, getting their teddy bears checked up, learning about research and engaging with nurses and doctors.”
Grande said the foundation will continue with fundraising initiatives to support the Children’s Hospital because “the needs are endless.”
“People want to see change, and our campaign has been about transformation and change. We feel this is just the beginning,” he said.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
A bear waits for surgery.
Jade Sydney, right, and Riianna, x-ray technology students from the Children’s Hospital diagnostic imagining department, ‘scan‘ a stuffy for a young child.
Red River student nurses Kaitlyn Wiebe (right) and Brynn Arksey patch up Elsa the bear for Reagan.
A bear’s blood pressure is checked.
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press‘s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.