By Chris Simon
Many children across the world can sleep a little safer, thanks to residents at a Newmarket retirement complex.
The Roxborough Retirement Residence collected about $900 for Sleeping Children Around the World, a Canadian charity that provides bed kits to kids living in 33 countries, during a fundraiser that included a presentation by Sandra Riches, whose parent lives in the facility.
Riches, who volunteered to hand out kits for the charity in India last year, said Sleeping Children makes a difference in the lives of families in developing countries.
“In some parts of the world, children do not have what they need to have a good night’s sleep,” she said during her presentation at the residence. “The goal is to build a world where children benefit from the comfort of a good sleep.”
Seeing the effects of the initiative firsthand prompted Riches to relay the importance of the charity’s work.
“Some of the family stories are just heart wrenching, but the children are happy,” Riches said of her visit to India. “They’re coming from great distances to a central spot to get the kits. Some of them travelled four hours by foot. There’s never enough to go around.”
Each bed kit consists of a mat or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito net (if applicable), clothes and school supplies. Kits cost $35 each.
Since its founding by Murray and Margaret Dryden in 1970, Sleeping Children has raised more than $23 million, according to the charity’s website.
The organization has helped more than a million kids.
