September Smilezone Updates

STILL SMILING

Our Safe Smiles campaign has been underway for a few months now, and we cannot express the amount of gratitude we have for everyone who has purchased a mask! Thanks to your generous donations, we have been able to donate 2,500 masks to the children who visit the Smilezones at our partner hospitals and centres across Canada.

August and the start of September have been busy months for the Smilezone team as we coordinated with our partner centres to safely drop off the Safe Smiles mask donations.

SMILEZONE IN THE NEWS

Our Safe Smiles campaign has earned quite a bit of media coverage!

Here's a round up:

Smilezone Founders – Scott Bachly and Adam Graves took a trip to Sudbury to donate 150 Safe Smiles masks to the kids at NEO Kids Children’s Treatment Centre, the Northeast Cancer Centre and Wordplay Jeux de Mots; and 200 masks to One Kids Place and North Bay Regional Health Centre in North Bay.

CTV covered the story

SEE THE FULL STORY HERE

Tracy and John Dunn, whose son Vince plays for the St. Louis Blues, donated 100 masks to Five Counties Children’s Centre in Peterborough through Smilezones ‘Safe Smiles’ campaign.

The Peterborough Examiner covered the story

SEE THE FULL STORY HERE

D.J. Smith, coach of the Ottawa Senators, teamed up with Smilezone co-founder, Scott Bachly in Ottawa to donate Safe Smiles masks to the Children’s Treatment Centre.

The Ottawa Sun covered the story

SEE THE FULL STORY HERE

One Kids Place Children’s Treatment Centre and the North Bay Regional Health Centre have received a donation of masks through Smilezone Foundations Safe Smiles campaign.

North Bay Nugget covered the story

SEE THE FULL STORY HERE

WE ARE BUILDING AGAIN!

After a long 6 month wait, Smilezone Foundation is ready to get back into centres and start building Smilezone spaces again; with our first post-Covid build taking place in Timmins, ON at Cochrane Temiskaming Children’s Treatment Centre and Porcupine Health Unit!

The new Smilezones will feature a fresh paint job, enticing murals, new gym equipment, iPads, TV's, sensory tables and much more! It won't be long until the spaces are filled with smiling faces!

WIN A VIRTUAL ONE-ON-ONE WITH RON MACLEAN

Make a donation to Smilezone Foundation for the chance to win a virtual one-on-one meet and greet with Hockey Night in Canada host, Ron MacLean!

Interested? Donate a minimum of $10.00 through the link below to have your name entered in the draw. Donate as many times as you like to increase your chances of winning!

GOOD LUCK!

DONATE TO ENTER

Ask An Expert: Melanie Danna

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Melanie, I'm 35 years old.

I was born and raised in France and moved to Canada 6 years ago.

I've been working in the sports industry since I graduated from my business school and I now work for the Raptors organization.

Can you tell us a bit about your role with the Raptors 905 and your partnership/involvement with Smilezone Foundation?

My role with the Raptors 905 is to work closely with local community partners and charities to promote and support their causes and initiatives. I also coordinate all community appearances in the region.

Our partnership with Smilezone Foundation helped us raised over $35,000 these past two years to help create Smilezones in two locations (ErinoakKids Centre for Treatment and Development in Mississauga and Peel Children's Aid Society). During Raptors 905 games, our volunteers sell lottery tickets, 50% of all ticket revenue goes to the winning ticket holder and 50% goes to Smilezone Foundation.

Have you ever been to a Smilezone or been personally impacted by one?

Over the past two years, I went multiple times to ErinoakKids Centre for Treatment and Development in Mississauga where the Raptors 905 participated in a couple of events to entertain the kids.

This past month, I visited another Smilezone as I gave birth at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital!s

What kind of reactions do you/your volunteers get when you tell people about the work that Smilezone Foundation does?

Everyone is blown away by the work that Smilezone Foundation does. Volunteering for Smilezone Foundation is so rewarding. For me, it's always with pride that I talk about our partnership and the projects that we have.

In your opinion, how important are the surroundings and immediate environment for children and youth receiving medical treatment?

It's never for a good reason to be at the hospital unless you're giving birth, I guess. Therefore, being in a warm, fun and colorful environment, certainly helps the children, but also parents to feel welcome and may reduce their stress. Children don't belong in hospitals so their surroundings play an essential role for their well-being.