This holiday season sees the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation in Winnipeg using a Morden youth’s story to help raise funds in support of children living with disabilities across the province.
The One Child’s Dream campaign features 17-year-old Evan Hesom, who lives with a rare developmental condition called spina bifida.
Despite the challenges of his condition, he is known for his outgoing personality and active participation in high school plays and adapted sports like baseball and sledge hockey.
Hesom hopes his participation in the campaign helps people come to understand “how we live and how we adapt in life.
“It helps people learn about disabilities and what it’s really like and how we can live in life and how it helps to fundraise and stuff like that,” he said.
“I appreciate it because it makes people more aware,” echoed his mom, Connie. “Then you see a person with a disability and you can relate better if you understand better what it means and involves.”
“It makes it more real for everybody else to realize and understand … you read about it and then you realize they have to do this or do that or something isn’t available … that’s where the foundation comes in.”
“Every year we feature a different child or youth living with a disability somewhere within Manitoba,” noted Jane Kidd-Hantscher, executive director of the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation.
She recalled having first met Hesom and how he was exuberant and engaging—clearly a good choice for the campaign.
“I really loved his banter with the staff here … at 17, he can really engage with them,” said Kidd-Hantscher.
She suggested it makes a big difference to personalize a campaign in this way because it makes more of an impact than just the usual fundraising appeal.
“It’s always about trying to make that human connection,” she said. “And what’s really key for us as a foundation is that we are a Manitoba charity first and foremost. We only operate within the province.
“What really comes across loud and clear is how, especially living outside the city, they don’t know anybody else who lives with what Evan lives with … and how much it is important to them to have the centre to care for him and what that has offered him,” Kidd-Hantscher continued. “So we’re really looking through that story to share that message and spread awareness about what the centre does and why it’s so important and why it’s life changing.”
Kidd-Hantscher would love to be able to raise $70,000 or more through this campaign. The funds will go a long way toward supporting kids across Manitoba.
“We fund the gaps that aren’t paid for by other sources,” she explained. “The foundation is not government funded at all, and the things that we fund support the centre where they don’t have other funding available.
“We’ve got some major pillars that don’t happen if donations don’t come to our foundation.”
Connie Hesom shared that the foundation has been an important resource and source of support for the family.
“While we were filming the interview they did with Evan there, he was in the process of getting a new wheelchair,” she noted. “They came here on a Sunday, and the following Monday we were at the rehab centre there getting him fitted for his wheelchair and found out they could possibly even help us get winter tread tires to put on his wheelchair, which I didn’t even know was a thing … and they’re willing to fund it.
“It’s amazing when you’re there and people start talking about different things, and you don’t even realize all the things that are there to help with all of their needs,” she added. “It’s overwhelming, but it’s also encouraging that there are people there doing all of this behind the scenes to help out. They’ve helped us over the years with many of Evan’s wheelchairs and equipment and different things that he’s needed. It’s very helpful … it can be tiring for him, and he can be part of things longer because he doesn’t tire out as fast.”
You can make a donation to the One Child’s Dream campaign online at onechildsdream.ca.
