Big, big news!
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Oh, sure, Strobel. Bigger than the prime minister quitting? Bigger than Trump invading Canada?)
Yes, ma’am, I think so.
The Sun Christmas Fund for Variety Village has raised a gob-smacking $125,709 this season. It’s our third-highest tally ever. Mail strike? What mail strike?
This comes after the Christmas Fund topped $2 million all-time, about midway through this campaign.
Those cheers you hear come from Scarborough, home to the Village, that famous sports centre geared to kids with disabilities.
Gentle Ben Haslam, the Village Dr. Doolittle, thanks you. So do the Sedeno brothers. So, too, Robert Hampson, and his new guide dog, Kelly.
Also, Saquib, Mackenzie and her brother Nate, Zach, Mason, Megan and all the other kids and kids grown up whose stories I’ve told you about this Christmas — and in campaigns past.
They are among the thousands who have walked — and rolled — the halls of Variety Village. Armies of kids with Down syndrome or cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy or some other genetic glitch have made it their refuge.
They have swum in the Village’s pool, played in its fieldhouse, revelled in its clubs, activities and camps, learned from its counsellors, and therapists.
They’ve had fun. They’ve been kids.
My Sun Christmas Fund chairkid knows all about it. Madison ‘Madi’ Ambos is now 11. She has cerebral palsy. She was three when I met her, and she could not stand unaided.
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Her mom, Katherine, told me back then: “We just want her to be able to do anything she wants to do.”
The Village, Katherine said, “always seems to draw the same kind of people. Warm, open people… who allow kids to fully experience life.”
Well, Madi now walks. She dances. She has skated and skied and ridden a horse.
She is one of Variety Village’s many bright lights. Last word on the 2024 Christmas Fund campaign to her:
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRKID
I love everything about Variety Village, and it looks like others do, too!
My mom showed me how many people pulled together and made donations for this year’s fund, and I was so surprised and happy to see we made it past $2 million all-time donations, which is pretty cool.
When people donate to the place I love most, it makes me feel grateful and so happy because it means that me and my teammates and campers and kids like me with a disability get to keep going to the Village.
We get to be kids and do fun things in an inclusive space, like teams, camps, therapies, exercising with our family and having fun.
Variety Village has always been my second home, where everyone feels welcome and included no matter who you are.
Sadly, there are not many places like it.
On behalf of me and all my Variety Village friends, I want to thank everyone who supported this year’s campaign and made a donation.
I wish everyone a happy new year, and I can’t wait to see what opportunities come next in 2025 because of everyone’s help.
–– Madi Ambos, Chairkid, Sun Christmas Fund
THE HONOUR ROLL
Here are the latest generous souls to donate to this edition of the Sun Christmas Fund for Variety Village.
John Hoffman, Toronto, $200
Sandra Hartley, Ajax, $750, in memory of Greg Hartley
Tim Murray, Pickering, $100
Catherine Ho, Toronto, $100
Tom Woolley, Mississauga, $50
Andre T. Hogeveen, Brantford, $200
Amy Tibble, Oakville, $500
2730972 Ontario Ltd., Oakville, $50
Stephen Burns, Toronto, $100
Luxury Tile and Marble, Vaughan, $100
Carol Murden, East York, $50
Monica and Jon Mitchell, Brooklin, $100
Chris Mycan, Etobicoke, $200
Alexander Gass, Toronto, $300
Robert Willson, Toronto, $100
John R. Bates, Mississauga, $250
Jan Fong-Lee, Scarborough, $50
Gord and Barb Bell/Wilcox, North York, $100
Marset General Contracting, Vaughan, $1,000
Kulwant Shergill, Woodbridge, $100
Stewart Schneider, Burlington, $100
Marie Carson, Toronto, $100
Andrew McAlpine, Nepean, $30
Anonymous, $25
Linda Abrams, Toronto, $18
Linda Chase, Stouffville, $100
Anonymous, $50
Kathy Donnelly, King City, $50
Robert Cumming, Toronto, $150, in memory of Janine Hambrock
Ruzica Jevric, Scarborough, $250
Audrey Duff, Toronto, $180
Howard Jubb, Pickering, $75
Anonymous, $100
Donna Altese, Toronto, $50
Najib Arkilo, Scarborough, $100
Gregg Clifton, Mississauga, $2,000
Glenn Russell, Toronto, $25
Jackie Cumming, Toronto , $50
Wanda Gregory, Toronto, $50
Norma Dickey, Toronto, $50
Calvin Jessome, St. Catharines, $50
William Blake Jacobs, North York, $100, in honour of
Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale
Archie Allison, Toronto, $100
Anonymous, Markham, $100, In memory of Jenie McTavish
John Randall, Toronto, $50
Evelyn McLean, Unionville, $100
Isaac Kashton, North York, $40
Irene Tremblay, Bowmanville, $50
Esther Goldberg, Toronto, $25
Ted Dulny, Oshawa, $20
Thomas Rentz, Toronto, $100,
Elizabeth Gross, Toronto, $50
Zenon Chwaluk, Toronto, $100, in memory of Mort Greenberg
Beverley Clark, Stoney Creek, $100
Kazimer Kondrachuk, Guelph, $300
Frank Spiteri, Toronto, $100
Jeanne Danielson, Toronto, $500
Richard O’Hanlon, Toronto, $1,000
The Hampson Family, Toronto, $1,000
Irene and Gordon Herlock, Pickering, $50
Stephen and Elaine Greenhorn, Pickering, $20
Tom and Barb Azzopardi, Scarborough, $100
Yvonne Pettit, Etobicoke, $2,000
Gillian Roberts, Courtice, $100
Joyce May Brampton, $200
Richard Stankiewicz, Toronto, $25
Lynn Duckworth, Toronto, $50
Frederick Pratt, Scarborough, $250
Patricia Adair, Toronto, $100
Roman and Mariola Schultz, Etobicoke, $100
William McFadden, Orangeville , $100
Lynne Steeper, Willowdale, $200, in memory of Carolyn Emily Bates
Jack and Carol Long, Toronto, $100
Mary Mark, Scarborough, $100
Rev. Nola-Susan Crewe, Toronto, $50
Susette Khabbaz, Scarborough, $25
Rejeanne Clement, West Hill, $25
Jack Proctor, Thornhill, $50
Joseph and Eva Adams, Stouffville, $100
Marlisa Mercer, Orillia, $35
Christine Beekmeyer, Scarborough, $100
Marilyn Carlisle, Etobicoke, $50
Bud and Sharon Gardiner, Barrie, $100
Brian Moniz, Toronto, $25
Nadia Popovici, Richmond Hill, $40
David Clark, Mississauga, $22
Fred Woolley, Oshawa, $25
Bruce Brunkard, Toronto, $25
Mike Strobel and Tulip the Brave, latest VIKING CAT book sales, Manitoulin Island, $2,000
Brian Pretty, Etobicoke, $100
Verne Baggs, Toronto, $50
Sandra Craddock, Barrie, $100
Anne-marie O’Donnell, Toronto , $100
Lynn Webster, Toronto, $50
Brandon Pilch, Etobicoke, $5
Bob Dermer, Toronto, $36
Helen Rose, Toronto, $100
Richard Rayment, Proton Station, $200
Flora Dovenman, Toronto, $150, in honour of Fariborz Dorafshar
Lisa (L.L.) Lee, Oshawa, $50 Stanley Miller, Oshawa, $35
Jackie Mazur, Mississauga, $75
Helmut Wagner, Richmond Hill, $250
Bruce and Kathy Reynolds, Mississauga, $50
Elizabeth and Ernest Barnes, Toronto, $250
Wayne Morrow, Sunderland, $100
Irene Cord, Etobicoke, $35
Thomas Dryburgh, Scarborough, $30
Ken and Debra Tattersall, Simcoe, $100
Allan and Christine Gatenby, Scarborough, $50
Kevin Benson, Brantford, $50
Jacqueline Cowan, Stouffville, $200
Patricia and Dennis Moffat, North York, $50
Jane Wan, Scarborough, $50
Jim Muir, Toronto, $170
Peggy Eades, Markham, $50
Dale Boyce, Ajax, $100
Joan Embree, Orleans, $70
Nancy Gullone, Toronto, $30
TOTAL: $20,681
FINAL 2024 TALLY: $125,709
ALL-TIME TOTAL: $2,049,759