Kids helping kids

(This article first appeared in the October issue of the Anglican Journal.)

Through the Anglican Foundation’s Kids Helping Kids Fund, Anglican children have been making a positive difference in the lives of other Canadian children.

Emily’s House, a new 10-bed palliative care centre for children in Toronto, recently received a $10,000 grant to help open its doors to children who need more medical care than can be provided in their homes. Another hospice, Ottawa’s Roger’s House received a $5,000 grant for a ceiling lift to help children with limited mobility in and out of bed.

The St. Jamestown Homework Club, run by an ecumenical coalition, also received a $5,000 grant to help it continue to offer tutoring to about 25 children who gather after school at St. Simon’s Anglican Church, in an inner-city Toronto neighbourhood.

Joshua, a 16-year-old from King’s Cove, Nfld., who has spastic cerebral palsy, had no independent mobility until the fund helped him buy an adapted tricycle. In July, Bishop David Torraville of the diocese of Central Newfoundland blessed the bike.

Anglican Foundation executive director Canon Judy Rois says that the foundation is actively seeking to fund more projects like these.

The foundation created the fund after Rois asked Anglican children across the country what they would like their church to do and what would they like to raise money for. From their answers, the foundation set four priorities for giving: before-school breakfast programs; giving kids a chance to go to summer camp or choir school; helping kids with homework after school; and caring for kids with a terminal diagnosis.

Anglican children have been raising money for the fund by collecting toonies during liturgical seasons. Others have done outreach projects and plays and donated the proceeds to the fund, says Rois.