Sudbury LCBO stores will be doing their part to support Toronto's SickKids Foundation this holiday season.
The annual Giving Back in Our Community campaign kicks off Dec. 1, and one special little Sudburian and his mom were at the Silver Hills LCBO on Nov. 29 to spread the word about the campaign.
Taylum Lamoureux, who is now four-years-old, was born with polycistic kidney disease, which caused large cysts to grow on both his kidneys. He had to be airlifted to Toronto immediately because his kidneys were on the verge of failing.
SickKids was home for Taylum and his mother Désirée for the first seven months of his life, where he underwent a number of surgeries, had his kidneys removed and spent three hours a day on hemodialysis.
"Our entire world was inside the walls (of SickKids)," said Désirée.
"We spent two and a half years living in Toronto and seven of those months physically living inside SickKids. The way I'd put it is it takes a village and our village was SickKids, I was by myself so I had to leave my entire life behind to take care of a seriously ill child and SickKids became my family. They were the people that I could lean on and cry with, the people there are just a different calibre of people and you can tell right when you walk in that it's a special place."
The LCBO's campaign to support SickKids Foundation helps patients like Taylum and hundreds of others. Last year, the campaign raised a record-breaking $1.7 million through donations from customers and staff.
To date, the campaign has raised nearly $10 million for the hospital. LCBO locations all over Greater Sudbury will be putting out donation boxes starting Dec. 1 and running until Dec. 31, where customers are invited to add on $2, $5, or $10 to their purchase.
"We are extremely grateful for the generous and continued support of LCBO customers and staff who helped us raise $9.6 million to date and are committed to helping us achieve our ambitious fundraising goal to build a new SickKids," said Seanna Millar, senior vice president, community and corporate partnerships, SickKids Foundation.
"Their ongoing commitment helps enable SickKids to fund the fight against the greatest challenges in child health."
SickKids Foundation is one of 27 provincial and numerous local charities that will benefit from the LCBO's province-wide donation box program. In 2016, LCBO raised more than $13.3 million for charities through special programs and initiatives, of which $8.8 million was raised through in-store fundraising.
"What you guys (LCBO employees) do every day at the cash, just bringing it up and gesturing towards the box and bringing attention to it when I'm sure people have their minds everywhere, but it's just so important," said Lamoureux.
"We've spent Christmases in SickKids and it's really difficult, and just to know that people are thinking of you and donating, I hope you guys know that what you guys do is really important to us and to so many people who we've met along the way and especially Taylum because he wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for SickKids."
