The Sunshine Foundation of Canada is a national Canadian charity that makes dreams come true for kids living with life threatening injuries and severe disabilities.
Their goal is to provide these children with the opportunity to learn, feel, experience, and develop a positive sense of self.
Nathan Manners is a Sunshine Foundation alumnus who had his dream come true when the foundation gave him a tandem bicycle.
Manners’ mother, Lynn Parslow, says “his tandem bicycle has given him the freedom to ride a bike like everybody else”.
She explains that Nathan is able to sit in the front of the bike, and can pedal at his own discretion, and someone sits, pedals, and steers in the back.
After being so grateful of his wish, and after a Sunshine Dream-Lift to Disneyworld, Nathan decided he wanted to pay it forward.
Nathan’s Garage Sale is a fundraiser the family did last year, with a total of $1,300 being raised.
This year’s total was over $1,700.
“You can go and ask people for things to sell at the garage sale, as opposed to asking them for money”, Parslow mentions while explain the reason behind the garage sale.
Manners is now working for the Sunshine Foundation, and their goal is to make it an annual and national fundraiser.
Manners and Parslow were in attendance of the Sunshine Foundation of Canada’s new fundraising event, Float for Dreams.
This first ever annual event featured teams from cities around Ontario, including London, Brantford, and Waterloo. The teams floated down a lazy river in giant floating tubes and competed in team-based challenges along the way.
When teams arrived, they headed to the different stations, starting with life jackets, paddles, breakfast, and then the sunscreen station (maybe the most important stop of all on the sunny day).
Hundreds of participants turned out to support the event, and with each team raising money, the total at the end of the day was well over $20,000.
CEO of the Sunshine Foundation of Canada, Nancy Sutherland, says it took many months to plan the event. “We were looking for something to do that would involve an experience, a dream experience, and we wanted an activity that our families could do with us.”
Eight Sunshine alumni participated in the float, and even more attending the barbeque and awards ceremony to follow.
Sutherland says she was impressed with the large turnout and great support from many neighbouring communities, and plans to make Float for Dreams an annual event, and expand it nationwide.
