Children's Hospital Foundation cancelling Teddy Bear Picnic third year in a row

The Children's Hospital Foundation will be relying on community fundraising events and individual donors to help their projects once again in 2022. 

"Unfortunately we've had to announce that the Children's Hospital Book Market and the Teddy Bear's Picnic remain on hold due to COVID-19," says Stefano Grande, the President and CEO of the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba.

While most of the province has lifted all of the remaining public restrictions as of March 15, including wearing masks in public places, Grande shares why these events are cancelled this year. 

"We know our communities slowly emerging out of this last Omnicron virus and we're not sure how the community was going to react. With this last phase of reopening we weren't sure how the community feels when it comes to health and safety."

Grande says the hope is that both events come back bigger and stronger. 

"We hope the book market will come back this fall, keeping in mind the hundreds of volunteers that help us for the book markets are older people, the most vulnerable."

Every year the book market alone raises $300,000 to $500,000 for the foundation. 

"The other thing that's top of mind right now is our doctors, nurses, and allied medical staff that run our hospital, they've been with us three years running double duty. Their health is also on our minds as well."

The money the foundation raises goes towards two specific areas at the Children's Hospital. 

"The first and foremost, the research that goes on here. We have over 250 researchers here, two floors, 40,000 sq ft, and it's 100 per cent funded by our donor community. Plus, our Child Life Program. Whether they're here for two days or weeks, how do we keep them engaged in the normalcy of children's life?"

The Child Life Program includes a music therapy aspect, libraries, and a play space on the third floor of the Children's Hospital. 

The community events put on by individuals also help tremendously, including events like #cycle4eveline coming up in June. The Petit family in Winnipeg is a part of it, as they've seen firsthand what the Children's Hospital does for sick kids. 

For people who want to support the foundation, they can check out events happening on the foundation's website, as well as a list of community events.