Participants raise $140K for York Region's Kids Help Phone walk

Yorkregion.com
May 4, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Spiderman was there. Superman and Batman showed up, too.

No, it wasn’t the grand opening of a comic book store or a movie launch.

It was the annual Walk so Kids Can Talk fundraising event for York Region in support of Kids Help Phone, taking place at Boyd Conservation Area in Vaughan on a sunny, but chilly Sunday morning.

About 500 people - aged two to 87 - participated in the ninth annual walk held in the city, deemed one of seven “super sites” for the cross-country event, which featured a hero theme.

Vaughan Secondary School students Jonathan Huynh, Matthew Kim and Apisan Nanthivaran took part as part of a school assignment requiring them to help out in their community.

They decided to sign up for the walk after researching Kids Help Phone, which provides professional counselling services for children, youth and young adults - from age five through 20 - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“It’s known to help people out and it’s a great fundraiser for their organization,” Apisan said. “And by helping this out, we’re helping the community a lot.”

“It’s good exercise, this walk, and it’s also for a good cause,” Matthew added.

Mary Mauti, chairperson of York Region’s walk, organized the first Kids Help Phone fundraiser in Vaughan nine years ago and it brought in about $50,000 for the organization, she said.

This year’s walk was the most successful to date, raising more than $140,000 locally, she added.

Ms Mauti said one of the great things about Kids Help Phone is that it not only provides support for children suffering mental health issues, such as depression or anxiety, it’s also a valuable resource for those seeking advice about issues they don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents about such as how to start dating.

MC Lloyd Robertson, former chief anchor and senior news editor at CTV News, got the crowd pumped up for the walk.

And before they headed out, hundreds of participant, many sporting blue T-shirts with sponsor BMO’s (Bank of Montreal) logo emblazoned on the front, took part in a warm up that saw them stretching, bouncing and waving their arms in the cool, damp grass.

Jason and Jana Arbour, Richmond Hill residents and children of Kids Help Phone past board chairperson Kerry Arbour, have been taking part in the annual fundraiser for the past 12 years.

“It’s a great organization to support for kids who do need it,” Jason, 14, said. “And they’ve expanded into a couple of other things that are also good things to have (such as) the online Apps and college help lines.”

“I didn’t need this growing up, and I was lucky, but there are people out there that need the resources who don’t have the resources I was afforded,” Jana, 19, added. “It’s really important that it’s there to support anyone who does need it.”

Sonja Misur took part in the event with her daughter, Jelena, as part of team GTD Sunshine For Kids and raised just more than $1,000.

“I’m so excited,” she said while making her way to the starting line at 10 a.m. “We’re here to support Kids Help Phone.”