Make-A-Wish® Canada and Honda Canada Foundation have partnered in their first-ever Make-A-Wish® Play for Wishes, starting on Friday, March 5 to Saturday, March 7, 2021. Honda Canada Foundation is matching up to $25,000 of funds raised, doubling the impact
for #PlayForWishes! Featuring wish kid Xander and television sportscaster Kate Beirness as ambassadors, Play for Wishes is a virtual games night event to help raise funds that will grant life-changing wishes to children with critical illnesses.
Registered participants can enjoy the many games provided, like bingo, trivia, or they can play their favourite board games, video games or team challenges. Participants get to choose how and when to have fun with friends and family, in the safety of their homes, all while making a difference in the lives of wish children who need the hope of a wish during a difficult time. To learn more and register for this fun, new event, visit playforwishes.ca.
Over the past ten years, Honda Canada Foundation has raised close to $1.4 million to support our mission,” says Sheila Rees, Make-A-Wish Canada’s Vice President of Development. “The national virtual Play for Wishes is just another incredible initiative of how Honda Canada Foundation is committed to ensuring that life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses continue, especially during these extraordinary times.”
In 2019, the organization granted over 1,600 life changing wishes. But as we all know, 2020 was different and as a result of COVID-19, more than 4,000 wishes were delayed. While Make-A-Wish Canada’s ability to grant wishes that involve travel and gatherings has been impacted, our life-changing work continues. We remain focused on our mission and continue to grant memorable wishes while keeping our wish families safe.
“Honda Canada Foundation recognizes the growing impact this pandemic has had on our ability to deliver life-changing wishes for children, and the thought of not being able to grant a child their wish is heartbreaking,” says Tony Facciolo, Chair of the Honda Foundation and Vice President of Honda Financial Services. “Thanks to our continued belief in the power of a wish, the Play for Wishes event provides the opportunity to safely grant kids their wish, while supporting their family at a time when they need it most.”
For a child fighting a critical illness, every day of waiting for a wish is one too many. By participating in Play for Wishes, you can help give a kid a piece of their childhood back. Together we can transform lives one wish at a time!
ABOUT MAKE-A-WISH® CANADA
Make-A-Wish® creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We are on a quest to bring every eligible child's wish to life, because a wish is an integral part of a child's treatment journey. Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a critical illness. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Make-A-Wish is the world’s leading children’s wish-granting organization, serving children in every community in Canada, and in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Since 1983, Make-A-Wish Canada has granted over 35,000 wishes across the country, over 1,000 last year alone. For more information about Make-A-Wish Canada, visit makeawish.ca.
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About the Honda Canada Foundation
Established in 2005, the Honda Canada Foundation (HCF) aims to enable the realization of dreams through various annual philanthropic activities and funding to non-profit registered charities across Canada where Honda customers and associates live, work and play. The HCF focuses on four key pillars – family, environment, engineering and education – and each year more than $2 million is disbursed to groups in need. More than six million Canadians have benefited from Honda Canada and Honda Canada Foundation funded charitable programs. For more information, please visit www.hondacanadafoundation.ca
