If you’re going to donate to a charity, donate to one that benefits children.
That’s what I think anyway.
But I’m not telling you what to do with your money, I’d never dream of it.
The truth is, I believe that children are our future and while I don’t have any of my own, it touches a spot in my heart whenever one is struck down by something they don’t deserve — leukemia, cerebral palsy, et cetera.
So let’s talk about the Stollery Foundation and, by extension, the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.
As you’ll read on Page 30A, Darren Wood and the rest of the slo-pitch players who participated in the Fort Assiniboine All Men’s &Ladies Slo-Pitch Tournament Sept. 1 to 4 donated a staggering $15,000 to the charity.
Granted, some of the funds were in the form of a matched donation from the ScotiaBank but that’s not really my point.
In speaking with Wood, I determined I had to look into the foundation myself and discovered that in order to donate to the Stollery, one must actually make cheques out to the children’s hospital foundation arm.
The Stollery Foundation, as stated on their website, does not accept public donations.
However, the foundation does disburse income earned from endowed funds and supports a wide range of projects.
These include health-related, human rights and social services — poverty reduction and/or elimination, as well as bursaries and scholarships for students attending secondary institutions.
While the Stollery Foundation, a private family foundation that provides funds to local registered charities, was founded in 1994 by Robert and Shirley Stollery, the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation began in 1978 as the Northern Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Its name was changed to the Children’s Health Foundation of Northern Alberta in 1992 to reflect the role of the foundation in raising funds to support the regional child health program.
In honour of the aforementioned Stollery’s, the name of the foundation was changed once more in 2001 with the official opening of the Stollery Children’s Hospital and continues to be dedicated to supporting the needs of those who seek treatment at its facilities.
Kudos to Wood and the other players who participated in the tournament, not only for the fact that Barrhead teams won, but because they each inspired one another to commit to a worthy cause and raised so much.
If only the rest of us could be so selfless this world might actually be a better place.
