TORONTO — Not all of Santa’s helpers live in the North Pole.
Members and volunteers of the Cancer Recovery Foundation make a difference in communities large and small by providing a helping hand wherever needed.
By packaging brand new toys for young cancer patients, volunteers of the foundation are able to help create smiles and inspire hope for children across Canada who are facing hardships in treatment and cancer diagnosis.
“It hits you like a whirlwind and just knowing that there’s little foundations like this that say, ‘Hey, we’re here, we care, we want to do something,’ it just makes the world of difference,” says parent Natasha Koss.
For more than a decade, the foundation has been delivering toys to thousands of children each year through their Bear-Able Gift program.
“These toys that you see here today are going out to all the hospitals across Canada, as well as individual families that have applied on their own and there is around a thousand bags going out this Christmas,” says executive program director, Shannon Kroon.
For 5-year-old Selena Koss, her battle with a rare form of childhood cancer hasn’t stopped her from helping children just like her. The Koss family donated their time to the foundation to help bring the same joy to other patient’s as the gift bags have done for Selena since her last birthday.
“She was very, very excited. This huge bag came and she didn’t even know where to start,” says Koss.
“She got arts and crafts, and she got a little lunch box and a gift certificate to buy some clothes because that’s what she loves, it was perfect.”
Bear-Able Gifts is a year-round program; however, most donations take place during the holiday season.
“I love Christmas so to know that I’m putting all these gift bags together and sending out that joy to those children knowing that they’re going to be so excited when they open those up, it just means everything,” says Kroon.
The program works with many recipients in order to reach out to as many families and cancer patients as possible. The Foundation focuses on improving the mental, social and emotional well-being to these families while helping minimize the devastation that cancer can cause.
“They make a huge impact on families. They appreciate that there are people in the community who want to support them,” says Ontario Parents Advocating for Children with Cancer parent liaison Susan Kuczyncki.
“they appreciate that there are organizations, like the OPACC, in the community that want to link them together so that families know they’re not alone on their childhood cancer journey.”
From puzzles to action figures, the program sends out numerous to make a child smile and laugh when they most need it.
“A little kid going through cancer that spends a lot of time in a hospital, at home, not so much surrounded by a lot of other people or kids, and getting these gift bags allows them a chance to play and get new things and have a little fun,” says Koss.
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