Variety cares for the overall health and well-being of all children in this province who have special needs. Variety Cares provides life-saving and life enhancing equipment to hospitals and organizations around the province. From the construction and renovations of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or paediatric emergency room to the purchase of the incubators, beds and monitoring systems that furnish them, Variety provides the necessary financial assistance to equip communities in BC with many of the resources needed to care for its children.
Variety also disburses grants for emergency situations through the Emergency Response Fund. This program funds urgent travel for children who need medical attention outside their community as well accommodation for children and families during their stay. We also provide assistance with meals, prescriptions, medical supplies and more.
Variety has supported numerous organizations around the province under Variety Cares including, BC Children’s Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge, Kelowna General Hospital and many more.
One family's story: Brynn
Variety has helped so many children, and there are many who need your help. Brynn is one child who benefitted from your support. Brynn’s mom Debra, shares here story.
“We had had a wonderful day,” remembers Debra. “It was just one of those days that you look back in time and think that it was too good to be true.” Debra was making coffee. She poured boiling water into her coffee pot and turned for a second. Two year old Brynn came up behind her and pulled the coffee pot off the counter.
“All of a sudden I heard this screaming. I just remember looking at her and seeing her blink. She had coffee grounds in her eyes.” With third degree burns to almost 40% of her body, Brynn and her mother were raced from their home on Quadra Island, to Vancouver. “We felt like we were in this nightmare. We were dealing with these incredible feelings of guilt and you are seeing this little baby in so much pain.”
In addition to the agony Debra and her husband, Philip, were feeling about their daughter’s well-being, expenses were mounting. That was when Variety’s Emergency Response Fund gave them shelter from the storm – a refuge when they needed time to heal. Variety was there to provide funding for accommodation and meal vouchers during their stay in Vancouver. With the financial burden lifted, they were able to concentrate on helping their daughter get better.
“Philip and I just sat in the office and cried because we felt like there was peace. It was like a real home - exactly what we needed. It was amazing and we talk about it to this day how, thanks to Variety, they gave us a chance to catch our breath.”
