BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
Ellie Cholette hopes the person who stole a box of decorating supplies from her car Monday night really needs them.
The Toronto-area decorator, who works for the W (Women?s) Television Network?s The Decorating Challenge, is in town this week to redecorate a room for 14-year-old Sudbury boy with cancer.
Kevin Campeau asked the Children?s Wish Foundation for a high-speed renovation in his family?s recreation room.
The foundation organizes volunteers and corporate donors to grant the wishes of children diagnosed with high risk, life threatening illnesses.
Cholette is decorating the room in a country-and-western style, although it isn?t being filmed for her show.
?If they really, really needed the money, then it?s OK...I?m an optimist. I see the good in people...But if they are having regrets, just leave it at the door of
the Ramada Inn with a note saying ?give to Ellie,?? says Cholette, who is staying at the downtown hotel.
The box contained accessories for the room, including some custom cowboy wallpaper she had ordered from a Boston company.
She also lost her debit card, good leather gloves and spare change in the parking lot robbery.
But Cholette says all of this is a mere ?hiccup? in her plans.
After meeting Kevin in Toronto a few weeks ago, she decided to volunteer her time to come down to Sudbury and co-ordinate the project.
Since then, local businesses and school groups have come on board to help make Kevin?s dream come true.
The best thing about the whole project has been spending time with Kevin and his family, says Cholette.
?Kevin is very polite. He is a young man who always wears a smile.?
Kevin, who was diagnosed with cancer in September, says he asked for the renovation so that his family would have a nice place to spend time together.
?She (Cholette) asked me what kind of room I wanted, and Bonanza came to my head. I wanted a guy?s room. I wanted a big entertainment stand...for me and my dad,? says Kevin, who loves old western television shows.
His mother, Faye, says the project has been good for Kevin, as well as for his 17-year-old sister, Jaime, and father, Ray.
?It meant, basically, that Kevin has something to think about and something to look forward to,? while getting cancer treatments in Toronto this fall.
Local businesses such as Home Depot and Home Sense have donated staff and materials, and Tim Hortons is providing food. Lo-Ellen Park
Secondary?s shop program students are doing some of the carpentry, and art students from Confederation Secondary School are painting a
Ponderosa mural on the rec room wall.
After the robbery, officers from the Greater Sudbury Police Service have also offered to help out.
