SickKids located in Toronto, ON, is Canada's largest and most research-intensive hospital dedicated to improving children's health. Renowned throughout the world as innovators in child health, SickKids improves the health of children by integrating care, research and teaching. 

With a staff that includes professionals from all disciplines of health care and research, SickKids provides the best in complex and specialized care by creating scientific and clinical advancements, sharing knowledge and expertise and championing the development of an accessible, comprehensive and sustainable child health system.

How We Help!

KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation has provided more than $5.5 million toward children’s health initiatives at The Hospital for Sick Children. Because of the Foundation’s generosity, magnificently themed murals are painted to lift the spirits of our patients throughout the Hospital. SickKids’ Emergency Department is a livelier environment for kids who are sick and injured. Vital, life-saving equipment needed for trauma and resuscitation has been updated. Staff lounges and waiting rooms have been made comfortable. Our Plastic Surgery Clinic has been modernized. And through KRG Children’s Charitable Foundations’ most recent generosity, tremendous progress has been made in the treatment and care of children with autism, including the launch of the exciting new MSSNG initiative.

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The MS Society provides services to people with multiple sclerosis and their families and funds research to find the cause and cure for this disease. We have a membership of 17,000 and are the only national voluntary organization in Canada that supports both MS research and services. Since our founding in 1948, the core support of the MS Society has been from tens of thousands of dedicated individuals, companies and foundations in communities across Canada. The Society receives almost no funding from government. 

How We Help!
 

The Follow the Leader scholarship, which is made possible by the support of the KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation, was awarded to Lucas Nystrom of Kenora, Ontario and Nicholas Addesso of L’Original, Ontario, both of whom grew up with a parent living with MS, as well as Matthew Lee of Toronto, Ontario, whose mother lives with NMO, an affiliated condition.

With the Follow the Leader scholarship, Nystrom, Lee and Addesso will receive $25,000 per year for four years to apply to tuition and living expenses – for a total scholarship of $100,000 each. Returning for a second year, this innovative scholarship program is available solely due to the generous financial support of the KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation and seeks to offset the hardships of those who have grown up with MS in their family -- impacting their ability to pursue a post-secondary education.

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Autism Speaks Canada's mission is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders. Dedicated to funding global research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and cure for autism; to raising public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society; and to bring hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder. They are committed to raising the funds necessary to support these goals.

How We Help!

KRG Children's Charitable Foundation's support of over $2,000,000.00 in much needed funding, has helped to kick start a groundbreaking project; The MSSNG Campaign. We also proudly support ISAND - Integrated Services for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. With a donation of $400,000 we have committed to helping them hire skilled professionals and expanded services for their families.

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“Ooch” is a camp that provides children living with and affected by childhood cancer with camp programs and experiences including at a year-round overnight camp in Ontario’s Muskoka region.  The Camp’s mission is to give children with cancer what all kids’ need – the chance to just be kids!  Ooch Muskoka is the only pediatric oncology camp in Canada with a medical facility, in the beautiful wilds of the Canadian Shield; this “Med Shed” houses oncologists and nurses who provide onsite IV chemotherapy and blood transfusions, so that even medically fragile kids are able to go to camp, where they play, laugh, and make memories and friendships that last forever.  It’s not unusual for these same kids to be paddling a canoe, roasting a marshmallow, singing a silly song, or climbing the high ropes course, just a short time after treatments.  Receiving no government or hospital funding, Ooch relies on a large contingent of dedicated and trained volunteers, and the generous support of individual and organizational donors to deliver programming at zero cost to families.

How We Help!
 

KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation has been a proud supporter of Camp Ooch for over a decade.

In 2004, KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation fully funded Ooch Muskoka’s “immense and magnificent,” state-of-the-art, high ropes course. The High Ropes lets kids of all abilities – its wheelchair accessible! – climb into the sky, to challenge themselves, in mind and body, and to find a sense of pride and accomplishment.

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In 2010, KRG Charitable Foundation helped Ooch bring camp to the city by funding a central feature of Ooch Downtown – Ooch’s unique, urban day camp facility in the heart of Toronto – a rock wall that climbs from the ground level, through a hole in the floor, to the ceiling of the second floor.

In keeping with our support of adventure initiatives, KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation added even more squeals of laughter and friendship to Camp when in 2013 we funded the addition of a thrilling Giant Swing to the high ropes course in Muskoka.

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Camp Teomol is the latest program at Ooch specifically with children who have had a sibling die from a cancer diagnosis. KRG Children's Charitable Foundation has committed in 2018 to supporting the Teomol Program for next three years!

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KRG Children's Charitable Foundation also provides all overnight campers with camper necklaces – illustrating each summer’s camp theme -- and ‘welcome’ backpacks.  Both items have proven to be very special keepsakes and a way for campers to remember their special time at Ooch.

In addition, KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation’s “Jump for Ooch”  which began with the aim to raise funds to send kids to Camp Ooch; more than $400,000 has been raised, which translates to over 90 kids with cancer getting to experience the Magic of Camp Ooch. 

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Operation Art was initiated to enhance SickKids' public and patient spaces to ensure that they contribute to family-centered compassionate care.  As part of the project, Susy Bleasby joined SickKids as the artist in residence, and has been transforming spaces that are home to our tiniest patients in the NICU, to clinic spaces for our teen population.  

How We Help!
 

In 2005, KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation supported SickKids through the painting of a mural in our critical care unit.  Due to the amazing feedback received, in 2007, KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation envisioned and committed to funding a new program at SickKids called Operation: Art.  

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With KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation’s support, Operation: Art is making each hospital experience as positive and comforting as possible.  In addition to the excellent medical care, SickKids’ aim is to provide a warm and enriching environment that comforts children and parents alike. Art has the ability to connect people by offering a forum of discussion, expression and the sharing of imagination.  Since inception, Operation:Art has transformed more than 60 spaces in the hospital.

SickKids is grateful to KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation for helping the hospital create beautiful and interesting spaces for our patients.

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Southlake Regional Health Centre is a full-service hospital with a regional, clinically advanced focus. Southlake offers almost 400 patient beds and accommodates more than 90,000 visits to the Emergency Department, 22,000 in-patient admissions, and 600,000 out-patient visits each year. As a regionally designated site, Southlake is responsible for developing and providing advanced levels of care to the more than 1 million people who reside in York Region, Simcoe County, and in some cases, as far north as Muskoka. 

How We Help!
 

Each year KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation transforms the lives of more than 140 children at Southlake Regional Health Centre, through more than 500 diagnostic procedures.  These children cannot receive treatment until they are diagnosed!

KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation generously supported Southlake Regional Health Centre’s purchase of paediatric gastroscopes and colonoscopes, used in gastroscopy and endoscopy procedures. Gastroscopes are used in investigations that allow the physician to look inside a child’s oesophagus, stomach and the first part of the bowel to take a biopsy in an attempt to diagnose a child’s symptoms.  Colonoscopes allow visualization of the colon for aspects of inflammatory bowel disease, polyps etc. 

The new scopes allow physicians to complete procedures with greater efficiency and accuracy in diagnosis.

Under the direction of world renowned developmental pediatrician and researcher, Dr. Wendy Roberts, ISAND is an interdisciplinary coalition of highly trained professionals dedicated to providing comprehensive, coordinated and evidenced-based services for families to achieve best possible outcomes.  ISAND provides a variety of support services in one Centre, enabling families to receive fully integrated, collaborative and continued care throughout the lifespan. ISAND is also a teaching and training center internationally for professionals.

How We Help!
 

The KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation, in partnership with Autism Speaks Canada, is proud to support ISAND – Integrated Services for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Toronto, Ontario. KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation has proudly supported ISAND with $400,000 to hire skilled professionals and expand their services for families. In addition to this, KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation supports families to receive services through ISAND. 

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The Dr. Jay Children’s Grief Centre is the only centre of its kind in Canada, providing free support to children, youth and their families who a parent or sibling is dying or has died. 

How We Help!
 

Since 2011, KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation has funded the Youth Program which connects youth aged 13-18 years old with their same aged peers who have also experienced the death of a family member. Together in a supportive environment, youth have access to various forms of grief support and creative strategies to encourage healthy coping through peer support, art, music and other expressive outlets. 

Over the past six years, KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation has helped make this life changing opportunity available to close to 100 youth from across the GTA and beyond.  

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OneFamily is the premiere organisation in Israel supporting the needs of Victims of Terror. The OneFamily Youth Division works with over 1500 children throughout Israel who have lost loved ones in a terrorist attack in Israel since 2001. These children and teens come from all walks of life, all sectors of society and all parts of the country. At OneFamily, they can find programming, support, counselors and staff who are specially trained to understand the needs and pressures of children who have suffered such terrible loss. They can also interact with hundreds of other children just like them, and form a social circle of friends who truly understand the depth of their pain and the major efforts they are making to overcome their loss and rebuild their lives.

How We Help!
 

Since 2006 KRG has funded the KRG CCF Youth Lounge which delivers unique and impactful programs that enhance the lives and well-being of so many young Israeli victims of terror. 

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The KRG Youth Club plays a vital and central role in the Youth Division, and serves as a home base for programming and activities - a home away from home where, over the years, thousands of children and young adults have been able to find comfort with their peer groups and have access to programs, retreats, excursions and the guidance they need to heal and move forward with their lives.

Since 2014, KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation has been funding the OneFamily Big Brothers/Sisters program which operates under the OneFamily Youth Division. This unique and important program pair’s impacted youth with a Big Brother or Sister to ensure that each child receives the care and support they require, helping each and every one of them to address their unique and painful challenges through direct, unconditional, love and personal contact. 

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The Team Hardwood cross country ski racing programs are fun and competitive for athletic children born 2005 and older who are interested in learning new skills, meeting friends and who enjoy training. Previous skiing experience is not necessary, but a willingness to learn about the sport is. The programs mix skiing with dry-land training to help build some fitness by doing a mix of ski specific exercises, games, outdoor adventure activities and fun competitions. For students in high school and older, the program offers the opportunity to improve ski technique and fitness and participate in races at high school, in the region or across the province.

How We Help!
 

We are pleased to continue our commitment to Team Hardwood. This funding contributes to the support and development of youth in sport, allowing them to grow and excel, while promoting a healthy lifestyle. The funding also allows for the team to have Jack Sasseville return to an active coaching role, while supporting head coach Ron Howden. Jack’s many years of high level coaching will only add to the quality of coaching available to Team Hardwood athletes.

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Variety Village is a sport, training, education and life skills facility for people of all ages and abilities. Originally a vocational school for young adults with disabilities, which opened in 1948, Variety Village is now an internationally recognized accessible and inclusive family fitness venue. Since 1981, our mandate has been to create opportunities, acceptance, awareness and healthy active living options for all.

How We Help!

Fitness Centre – KRG is a generous supporter and partner in promoting inclusive participation. The cardio room offers individuals with varied mobility, and their families, a place to become and stay active. The area has state of the art adapted equipment to engage people of all fitness levels and interests. With KRG’s involvement, we are able to offer this adapted equipment, a welcoming environment and enthusiastic staff to introduce individual fitness needs to our members and guests.

KRG provided a portable Multi-sensory mobile cart inviting children with disabilities to experience sensory stimulators that include visuals, vibration, weight, cushions and so much more.

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For 18 years KRG has been an integral sponsor of the annual World’s Greatest Christmas Party is recognized as one of the largest and most popular family events. Since 1997 we have welcomed thousands of children and their families, community groups and student volunteers to celebrate the holiday together. Our accessible venue provides a place where everyone can play, participate, be comfortable and have fun. 

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In addition to the generous support Variety Village receives, KRG sponsors the Debbie Burns Memorial Award recognizing two individuals who demonstrate selfless acts of kindness and an athlete who face challenges, but commitment to sport. The awards are presented annually at the Variety Village Athletic Club Banquet.

The Canucks Autism Network (CAN) Hockey program teaches basic hockey skills to children and youth with autism in a safe and supportive environment. The program introduces participants to stick handling, passing and shooting. Each week the players attend practice and are highly supported by trained coaches, support workers and volunteers. The program fosters confidence, skill building and friendship – all valued benefits of being on a team. At the end of the season, CAN’s two hockey teams take part in an adapted tournament alongside eight other teams from across the province.

How We Help!
 

The KRG Children's Charitable Foundation is proud to sponsor hockey teams in support of the Canucks Autism Network. This program allows for children and youth with autism, the opportunity to learn to play hockey, work together as a team, and also create lasting friendships.

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Upopolis is an online social network designed especially for young patients in hospital. Upopolis aims to make hospital walls virtually invisible between family and friends through the power of social networking. SickKids is the largest centre in Canada to offer this site to its patients.

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Upopolis provides the best features of social networking for young patients, who often feel disconnected when they are in the hospital. It offers personal profiles, personal blogs, instant chat and child-friendly games. The site is a password-protected social network that uses a content-filtering tool and pre-consented contacts to create a secure environment for patients to communicate.

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Upopolis also provides unique features to kids in hospital, like a homework site that helps them stay up-to-date with their schoolwork, links to child-friendly health and wellness information, and connections to other children with similar health challenges. The SickKids Child Life Department, which works with patients to help them cope with social and emotional issues associated with being in hospital, uses Upopolis as a therapeutic tool to help patient’s combat isolation and express their feelings. 

How We Help!
 

A three year commitment from The KRGCCF has made it possible to bring Upopolis to Sick Kids.

Taylor, Cole, and Brody Florence are triplets born 15 weeks prematurely on January 1, 2008 and later were each diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, a class of brain injury from birth that has no known cure. Overwhelmed and shocked by the diagnosis, but at once motivated by love, the triplets' parents, Dana and Jared, made a decision to turn their family’s situation into one of hope and empowerment. This is how THREE TO BE was born. Its goal is to raise funds to support and advance laboratory and clinical research initiatives for the development of therapies and treatments for children with neurological disorders.THREE TO BE is a fund at the Hospital for Sick Children and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. The research conducted in these two facilities will provide a multidisciplinary approach that marries laboratory and clinical rehabilitative research.

How We Help!

KRGCCF, along with Three to Be Foundation, purchased a state-of-the-art robotic device known as the Pediatric Lokomat® Pro. The Lokomat is a new robotic treadmill and an innovative gait training device that supports a child to walk upright while using robotics to move the child's legs in a way that simulates a natural walking pattern. A virtual reality screen is built-in to the device so that children can choose a character to move in sync with them. The more the child actively engages in walking, the greater the motor learning effect is thought to be. The lokomat's biofeedback and virtual reality systems give a motivational and fun environment with direct, real-time feedback to the child, parent and therapist on performance. 

KRGCCF generous gift has enabled Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital state of art in robotic therapy.   Robotic therapy has the potential to transform treatment for children with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders by making walking therapy more stimulating and engaging, more effective, and more inclusive for children with different walking abilities and goals.

The Children’s Aid Foundation works with over 50 child welfare agencies nationwide (including the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto) and is known as Canada’s leading charity dedicated to improving the lives of kids and youth involved with the child welfare system. Our growth and impact have only been possible with the support of our many generous corporate, individual, and foundation donors.

How We Help!
 

Since 1999, the KRG Children's Charitable Foundation has been an incredible long-time partner of the Children's Aid Foundation. Over the past 17 years, they have committed close to $250,000 to support vulnerable children and youth involved in the child welfare system. Through their generous commitment, the KRG Children's Charitable Foundation has provided 29 post-secondary scholarships to support the educational success of vulnerable youth in the communities of Toronto, Haliburton-Kawartha and Durham through the Children's Aid Foundation Post-Secondary Scholarship Program.

For their many years of dedication, the KRG Children's Charitable Foundation was honoured at the Children's Aid Foundation's Illumination Circle event in June 2016.

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C4C, a feel-good after-school program, that brings the concept of philanthropy to a child’s level. A great leadership opportunity, the Charmz program is completely youth driven. They design the jewellery. They take care of the advertising and marketing for their bracelet sale, and, together as a team, they choose charity to donate their hard-earned money toward. The program reinforces team work, co-operation, commitment, and accomplishment. It gives the kids an opportunity to opens their hearts, and reach out to those who are less fortunate than themselves. By doing this, they learn about responsibility and the true spirit of giving, sharing and caring. Children helping children, what could be more beautiful?

How We Help!

KRG Children's Charitable Foundation pioneered the C4C program with a donation of $100,000.

Affiliated with the York Region District School Board, Giant Steps is a school & therapy centre for elementary school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Their mission is to build the skills and abilities of children with autism and foster their meaningful participation in their families, schools and communities.

Children in the Giant Steps program receive coordinated, individualized programs of academics, life skills and speech, behaviour and occupational therapies. After a period of intensive intervention, students are integrated gradually into their local public schools. There they spend part of their school week with typically developing peers, supported by a Giant Steps’ Program Assistant and the consulting services of Giant Steps’ team of Special Education teachers and registered therapists.

How We Help!

KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation’s gift of $50,000 in 2008 transformed Giant Steps’ gym into The KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation Climbing Centre, a one-of-a-kind play & movement centre. The Centre enables kids with autism to learn and practise skills in many developmental areas, and, just as important, to have fun in a unique recreational environment. Our contributions continue to fund new equipment, safety inspections and staff training for the centre and help fund Giant Steps’ annual therapy program costs. 

Almost without exception, child abuse and child sexual abuse have a devastating and life-long impact on those victimized. Although the physical scars often heal quickly, the same cannot be said for the emotional and psychological damage caused. It need not be that way.

The Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness, dedicated to the prevention of abuse of children and adult victimization, aims to assist Canadians affected by the life-long trauma of abuse and to educate the public about the detrimental role abuse plays in our society. Powered by a committed group of staff and volunteers, CCAA is driven to combat abuse through a series of programs, special events, sponsored activities and public awareness campaigns. Whether it’s fulfilling a child’s dream wish, developing abuse prevention programs, or lobbying government for legislative change—CCAA is working to protect us all from the trauma of abuse.

How We Help!
 

The KRG Children's Charitable Foundation is proud to be the Founding Sponsor of the thirteen days of Christmas. With our support the CCFAA has been able to raise public awareness, aggressively advocate for change, and shape public safety legislation and policy that is, and will, continue to make a difference in the lives of adults and children.​

Kayla’s Children Centre was founded in May 2017 as a result of the merger of Zareinu Educational Centre and Project AIM. Kayla's Children Centre is a renowned non-profit organization that provides cutting-edge educational, therapeutic and recreational programs for infants, children and teens with a wide range of physical and developmental needs, and assists their families by offering support and respite, all under one roof in a state-of-the-art facility in Thornhill, ON.

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How We Help!

KRG Children's Charitable Foundation's annual donations are helping Kayla’s Children Centre achieve its vision to create a community of support and a future filled with possibilities for children with special needs and their families.