SickKids’ women’s auxiliary kicks off ‘CareWear’ campaign

Downtown resident Baby Mia models the SickKids CareWear styles.

Downtown resident Janis Weenen is hoping to set a new fashion trend with the launch of CareWear, a five-month fund raising campaign by the Women’s Auxiliary of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) dedicated to supporting care programs for the patients and their families,

The campaign, which will run until mid-June, hopes to generate significant funds through the sale of microfleece sweatshirts, unisex T-shirts, fitted women’s T-shirts, baseball caps, pink and blue baby blankets, and what is sure to be this year’s most popular item – hockey jerseys depicting the much-loved mascot Maggie the Bear in full hockey gear. Items are available to the general public Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. – 3.00 p.m. in the atrium of SickKids, located at 170 Elizabeth Street.

“The Women’s Auxiliary’s main objective is to nurture and support children and their families during what can be trying times,” says Weenen, First Vice-President of the auxiliary. “The CareWear Campaign provides an opportunity for the public to help our patients and their families deal with these challenges so they can focus their energies on becoming well again.”

Proceeds to fund a variety of critical care services

The Women’s Auxiliary of The Hospital for Sick Children is a volunteer organization founded in 1950. Its overarching mission is to support and complement the staff of the hospital by providing an extra dimension of care and concern for patients and their families.

Proceeds will fund the many services supported by the Women’s Auxiliary, including: managing the Play Park, where siblings of children in the hospital are looked after in a safe, stimulating and fun environment, enabling parents to focus on their sick children; providing the Haematology & Oncology Playroom with staff, crafts and games; supporting the volunteer Reading Room and twice-weekly library cart service to children in the wards. Auxiliary volunteers staff the About Kids Health Centre, which contains a wealth of information and provides Internet and research materials for parents; the Main Information Desk and the 5 fifty 5 Gift Shop, in which volunteers are responsible for the buying, stocking, selling, sewing and organizing various products. In addition, Women’s Auxiliary volunteers visit the children’s rooms to put up new posters through the Poster Express program, and provide support for anxious parents in the ASCU and Surgical Waiting Rooms.