Excel Funds donates to Sleeping Children

Submitted by Lynette Jenkins

In an email sent to its clients, Excel Funds notes that:

'in lieu of traditional Christmas greetings we are making a donation to "Sleeping Children Around the World" in their important endeavour of providing children around the globe the comfort of a good night's sleep.'

Click on graphic to see larger version.

Global News: Consumer SOS

INTRO: "The holiday season is a time of giving, so if you're planning on making any charitable donations this year, there are a few things you should know. In tonight's Consumer SOS, Sean O'Shea has some advice on how to make sure your donations are getting to the people who need it most."

Sleeping Children Around the World is given as an example of a 100% charity — the entire $35 donation goes to the child. Please note though that we don't ship bedkits to the child. The bedkits are assembled by Sleeping Children's overseas partners in the country where they are distributed.

Sleeping Children: A bit of history

A brief history of Sleeping Children Around the World's founder, Murray Dryden.

You can also watch in high quality.

Sleep-over at Casa Loma for SCAW

Submitted by Lynette Jenkins

"Marc Garneau Collegiate has a Kiwanis Key Club one of the largest in the district of "Eastern Canada and the Caribbean" that is supported by my Kiwanis Club of East York - and they had a sleep-over earlier this year and raised over $3,000 for SCAW. 126 Bedkits are to be delivered and I had the opportunity of giving some of them out in Nicaragua in October."

"Dave Dryden did a presentation at their annual convention and the students convinced the rest of the Key clubs in the area to make SCAW as their charity of choice for the 2008/2009 year!"

"The students are now having a mega-sleep-over at Casa Loma this Friday and Dave has been invited to do a presentation, and I am going too."

Click on graphic to see larger version.

Christmas in the Bag Craft Show

Submitted by Eileen Rademacher

Sunday, November 30th 2008
APPLEWOOD HOMESTEAD
The John Shaver Woodsworth Homestead Foundation
450 The West Mall
(North on Burnhamthorpe)
Etobicoke, Ontario
10am - 3 pm

"I will have a table selling cards, calligraphy and small art works. All proceeds will be donated to SLEEPING CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD."

"I look forward to seeing you there."

Eileen Rademacher

Hillcrest Elementary School penny drive

Pay it forward to Sleeping Children

From the Hamilton Spectator, November 18, 2008:

PAUL MALLEAU
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR

HILLCREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
(Nov 18, 2008)
In our class, we learned about something called Pay It Forward, and we have been practising it. Pay It Forward is about doing something nice for someone for no reason. You just do something kind to be nice. Maybe the person whom you are nice to will do something nice for someone else. Then that person will do something nice for someone else, and it keeps on going. If we all do it we can make the world a better place. Sometimes it is just a smile or if a family member is sick, I make them chicken soup.

-- Kayla Wood, Hillcrest Elementary School

This is all about an act of kindness. It can even save your life. When I was little (about five years old) a car almost hit me and my friend Stephanie, who was 11 years old. We were walking across the road. The car was coming, so she pushed me onto the sidewalk. The car hit her leg and broke it, but she was OK. I will always remember that she did such a good thing to help me, so I always try to be nice to other people now.

It will make the world a better place if we even help one person a day to feel good.

-- Kanisha Kuhun, Hillcrest Elementary School

Pay It Forward is all about being nice to people. Sometimes we pay people back for what they do, but now we pay it forward so even if they are not nice to us, we are nice to them. We are paying it forward to the Sleeping Children Around the World because we have had a penny drive and raised more than $800 to send to the children who do not have a nice place to sleep. Last year, we raised more than $1,000. Maybe the kids in Africa will pay it forward to other kids.

Sleeping Children's 2009 Calendar

Sleeping Children around the World has a 2009 calendar celebrating our millionth bedkit. In Canada, you can order online with our PayPal Shopping Cart. Price ($20/CAD) includes mailing costs.

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Lynette Jenkins, the entire $20 goes towards buying bedkits.

If you're not in Canada, you can order a calendar from the Lulu website for $20/US. We receive $5/US for each calendar you buy from Lulu.

All photos, taken by our travelling volunteers, show some of the children receiving bedkits at our most recent distributions. Click on the photo above to see a larger version of the cover. All photos are shown in high resolution at the Lulu website.

Photo Credits:

1. January (Kolkata): Irene Harrison
2. February (Chennai): Tom Belton
3. March (Mumbai): Doug MacDougald
4. April (Philippines): Brenda Porter-Lockhart
5. May (Togo): Loreen Cumming
6. June (Uganda): Debbie Will-Dryden
7. July (Kenya): Sue Orr
8. August (Tanzania): Warren Wagstaff
9. September (Sri Lanka): Genille Gimbel
10. October (Honduras): Patsy Leamon
11. November, left (Tanzania): Katie Sandiford
12. November, right (Togo): Leslie Banner
13. December (Bangladesh): Dave Dryden
14. Cover photo, top right (Nicaragua): Ted Swanston

Kettleby Herb Farms helps Sleeping Children

Sue Britnell of Kettleby Herb Farms writes about giving in her November, 2008 newsletter under the heading To Give or Not to Give? .... that is the question.

"These times are certainly challenging and this has stirred a desire in me to give something back. I am thankful for my lifestyle, my health, my children’s independence and freedom to live their lives as they choose. I feel quite fortunate, I have a job/lifestyle that I love, family I can count on, great friends and I still have my sense of humour. Maybe we need to be shaken up once in awhile to appreciate what we do have and perhaps, consider what we have to give others."

"So, I have spent this past while investigating charitable possibilities. This is not to say that I have not been charitable in the past, like most, I have donated to an assortment of charities in varied ways both personally and through Kettleby Herb Farms. …United Way, Red Cross, Salvation Army, National Institute for the Blind, Community Garden Programs, etc., but in these cases I have not initiated the donation, I have only responded to a request. This is something different to me…No, I am not in a position to write a big cheque…..I want to find something to which I can give a meaningful contribution in terms of time and commitment."

You can read the rest of her article on her website ... what she's come up with will help Sleeping Children Around the World buy bedkits:

From now until Christmas our new ‘Fab Four’ gift pack (pictured at right) (the perfect gift for the all the ‘cooks’ on your list!) will be specially priced at $35.00 (regularly $38.00)-see already a deal! To entice you even more, I will also waive our standard $4.00 handling fee on all orders that include this gift pack ….And finally to ‘close’ the deal… I will donate $5.00 from each sale of this gift pack to the ‘Sleeping Children Around the World’ Charity."

Click on the photo to get all the details.

Thanks Sue, and all your online customers.

PRESS RELEASE: Local Veterinarian Helps Needy Children in Bangladesh

From Bangladesh 2008 Photo Album

Doug MacDougald travelled as part of a team of six Canadians to help needy children in Bangladesh by distributing bedkit items to children who have never known the comforts of a proper bed. All team members travelled at their own personal expense to ensure that 8000 of the world’s neediest children would receive bedding items, clothes, mosquito nets and some simple school supplies. The team travelled throughout northern and central Bangladesh by various conveyances including rickshaw, barge, country steamer, baby taxi and van!

Doug has made a passionate commitment to a Charity that has been supported for many years by his parents. SLEEPING CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD has been a part of his life for the past 20 years. I addition to this, his father flew for the Royal Canadian Air Force and was stationed in what is now Bangladesh in 1944 and 1945. In a small way, Doug feels that he is returning home!

SLEEPING CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD is an exemplary Canadian Charity which from its inception has distributed over 950,000 bedkits to needy children in 33 different developing countries. Its founders, Murray and Margaret Dryden, parents of hockey legends Dave and Ken Dryden established this Charity in such a way that 100% of all donations go directly to the child who receives the bedkit. The Toronto Star recently listed this Charity as among its top five in Canada!

The bedkit that was distributed in Bangladesh contained articles of critical importance to the children. This included such items as:

• 1 mattress
• 2 mosquito nets
• 1 blanket
• 2 sheets
• 1 Gamcha ( all-purpose towel or scarf )
• 1 girl’s Salwar and Kameez or 1 Boy’s shirt and pants
• 1 pajamas
• 1 sandals
• 2 shawls
• 1 school bag
• 1 lunch box with drinking mug
• 1 pencil, sharpener and eraser
• 1 school notebook

Also available for download as a PDF file.

Click for high-res photo of Doug in Bangladesh.

For more information please contact Tamara Kaftalovich, Account Executive, Maverick Public Relations Inc @416-640-5525 or visit the Charity website @ www.scaw.org

Owen Sound Display for Sleeping Children

For the 15^th year in a row, St. Thomas and St. George's Anglican Churches in Owen Sound have set up their display at the Heritage Mall to promote Sleeping Children Around the World and sell bedkits.

Looking after things on Friday morning were (back row, left to right) Tom Hart and Carl Dickey, (front row, l to r) Gail Willcock and Pat Dickey.

Helen Morrison of St. Thomas reports that 16 volunteers helped this year and collected 47 bedkit orders so far. Collection jars made enough for three more bedkits. The campaign is on until Christmas. Potential donors in Owen Sound can contact the churches for more information or a donation form.

If you're not in Owen Sound, you can always download a copy of the donation form from the Sleeping Children website at this link.

An Evening with Lynette and Friends

The pleasure of your company is requested at
"An Evening with Lynette and Friends"
A Benefit Concert by Artists from
The Kiwanis Music Festival and Guests
In support of
Sleeping Children Around the World

Saint James' Cathedral
65 Church Street, Toronto
Saturday, November 29^th, 2008
5 - 7 pm
$10 per ticket

For further information, please email Lynette.





You will also be able to buy the SCAW 2009 calendar at this event. Lynette Jenkins has sponsored the printing of this calendar in memory of her mother, Renée Dorothy Jarman, (pictured at left) and for all mothers everywhere.

Our calendar shows children who have received bedkits from Sleeping Children Around the World in the past year and celebrates that in 2009 we will reach our millionth child.

You can click on the graphic or this link to enlarge the poster, and you can see all the pages of the calendar at the Lulu website.

Mary McDonell: Celtics & Classics

Click to see larger version.

Submitted by Dave Dryden.

Mary McDonell is a teacher with the Brant-Haldimand-Norfolk Catholic District School Board. Mary, a musician and pianist was working to compile a collection of songs as a keepsake for her children. While growing up her boys would often ask Mary to play for them when they couldn't sleep.

In the midst of the recording process Mary heard about Sleeping Children from Grant Clark during one of Grant's visits to Mary's school. As Mary says in the CD's dedication: "I couldn't imagine little ones trying to sleep on the ground every night without even a blanket. As a child, the worst I ever had to worry about, with nine siblings, was that someone might steal my pillow in the middle of the night."

Click to see song listing.

Like a Celtic knot, both of Mary's wishes tied in together. 25% of the proceeds from the sale of her CD "Celtics and Classics, Mary McDonell Piano Solos" will go to Sleeping Children. The CD costs $20.

To get a copy of this CD, you can email Mary. She's looking after sales in Brantford, of course. And the CD will be available in stores in the area in time for Christmas.

Here are some locations in the Ottawa Valley and Eastern Ontario:
SOUTH LANCASTER, ON Auld Kirktown Craft and Gift Shop Hwy. 2 and 401	FASSIFERN, ON Fassifern General Store Hwy. 34, south of 417
ALEXANDRIA, ON Nyamis Massage Therapy and SPA 2-Bean Café Do-Ann’s Clothing	MAXVILLE, ON Debbie’s Country Store
OTTAWA, ON The Scottish and Irish Store Bell’s Corners	CARLETON PLACE, ON Brush and Strokes Remembrance Gift Shoppe
PERTH. ON Kelly’s Flowers and Gifts.

Mary's sister, Grace Armstrong, is the "agent" in the Perth area. Their mother, Gwen Morris, is busy selling the CD in Eastern Ontario. You can get a copy from members of Mary's family if you live in those parts of the province. Mary says: "So far, the customer feedback is very favourable. My 85-year-old mom sells one every time she goes into Tim's, in the little town in Eastern Ontario, where she lives. She is pretty much captain of the selling team as we speak."

Sophia gets a Bedkit Photo

Thanks, Sophia and Muggle Sam.

And click here to see the video in high quality.

Some of the million children

Post-Race Report: Think Big!

Gary Comerford is a regular donor of Sleeping Children Around the World bedkits. Last year he raised around $10,000 and this year, he's expecting to double that. Here is a report he recently sent to his friends who helped him raise the money this year.

Columbus, Ohio:
October 19, 2008

It was a perfect morning for a run, 37 degrees Fahrenheit at 7:33:07 when I started the run and an estimated 60 degrees at the end. No wind to speak of and a perfectly clear blue sky. If I wasn't about to run 26.2 miles it would have been a very pleasant morning. Now they say that a gun went off, but I didn't hear it. In fact, the first I knew that the run had begun is when I saw the huge crowd in front of me begin to move. I hit my watch to get the GPS system working and to my great horror it couldn't find the satellite. Where is the US military when you really need them?  By the time I reached the starting line the watch was working, the MP3 player had Robbie Williams Live and my heart was pounding fast. Would this be the day that I would qualify for Boston? Seven years of marathon running, eighteen months of constant training, now came down to the next 3:59:59. Did the right Gary show up for the race?  Only time would tell.

The first mile was slow as the half marathoners and full marathoners were all running together at this point. John McCain was in town and I half expected to see him shaking hands at the starting gate, but what I really wanted was to see Sarah cheering on Johnny-six-pack from Columbus. At mile three, the Governor of Ohio was out on his front lawn waving an Obama sign in front of his mansion. Enough politics.

At mile four, I started to get serious about the run. The extra shirt came off, but the gloves stayed on. I had placed a temporary (theoretically) tattoo on my arm with the exact split time for every mile. At mile 10, I am right on the money [1:25:49] and feeling strong. Leonard Cohen's Closing Time is setting the pace and I'm visualizing the women in polka dots. But I digress. I'm beginning to realize that this is not a flat course. I wanted a flat course. I remember this as being a flat course! Where on earth did all this undulation come from? Has there been an earthquake in Ohio in the past 12 months? At the half-way mark I'm still right on time [1:52:30] and still feeling strong.

The next four miles is straight as an arrow along one of the main roads in Columbus. At mile 16, we begin to enter the area where they changed the route from last year. Yes, they changed the route, but was it for the better? I would soon find out, as the whole point of going to Columbus again this year was because I knew the course and it was a flat course.

So, off we go through Ohio State University, a beautiful campus that apparently has no students. Well, at least there are no students at 10 AM on a Sunday morning. They must all have been at church or hung over from the Buckeye victory the previous day. They sure we not out cheering us on.

Then at mile 19 the real marathon began. I have a fleeting visual of Sarah Palin giving high five's at the finish line: I must be starting to hallucinate. There was always an uphill climb in Columbus but this went on for four miles. When I got to the top and looked down on the city of Columbus, it was as if I was standing at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. OK. I'm exaggerating just a little for effect, but there were hills and we ended up with a view. At this point I'm beginning to fade and start to fall a little off my pace. I realize that if I'm going to do a sub-four hours I need to suck it up and charge on.

Thank God for Sir Isaac Newton. What goes up must come down. At 22 miles it's more or less downhill, but it seemed to me less than more. Now the crowds are beginning to get loud and boisterous. At every turn there is a group pushing you on. No Brazilian in a thong like Berlin, but lots of bands and cowbells. I prefer the Brazilian. It's now mile 24 and what, to a non-marathoner, would appear to be a sure cakewalk home, turns into the hardest part of the run. My legs are like rubber and the walking wounded are all around me. This is the point where the mind is saying one thing but the body has another point of view. It's now mile 26, with .2 of a mile to go. I'm running full throttle (it's a big downhill) and can't believe that, what was once a very distant dream, was going to become a reality.

I crossed the finish line in 3:56:13 well below the 4:00:59 required to qualify for the Boston marathon. Seven-and-a-half years earlier David Tetreault, my next door neighbor, stood in my driveway and said: "Gary we'll never be in the Olympics. We'll never play in the World Series. And we'll never play in the Stanley Cup, but we can run the Boston Marathon if we try. I thought he was certifiably nuts.

Thank you David. You were the one who first thought this was possible. On Sunday, David and I both qualified for the Boston Marathon. He for the third time and me for the first. After crossing the finishing line, there were my running buddies from Canada Fit giving high five's. What a support group. A very special thanks to coach Ed.

Thanks to your incredibly generous support, we are once again north of $20,000 raised for Sleeping Children Around the World and the cheques just keep coming. It's still not too late to contribute $35 for a bedkit and the joy you will feel when you get your picture will make your day.

Cathy says she can tolerate one more Marathon, so, Lord willing, I'll run Boston in April 2009 or 2010. It will be my last full Marathon.

So what's the lesson learned here? Think Big, no matter your age!

Gary Comerford

Ready for Bed Week: 26th October to 1st November

Ready for Bed Week has been initiated by Worlds Apart, to encourage parents to take the time to focus on establishing a good routine.

It also aims to help support the international charity Sleeping Children Around the World (www.scaw.org) which was set up to provide bed kits for children in underdeveloped and developing countries, who are not fortunate enough to have a comfy place to sleep.

Worlds Apart has posted some useful tips and links plus a downloadable Ready for Bed Week reward chart on its website, www.readyforbedweek.com.

For every 100 unique downloads of the chart during Ready for Bed Week (26th October – 1st November), Worlds Apart will fund² a bed kit from SCAW so it’s hoping as many families as possible will get involved.

The reward chart helps parents record and acknowledge good work and behaviour when it comes to cleaning teeth, tidying toys, settling down in good time and of course, staying in bed until it’s time to get up.

The Junctional Rhythm: Live @ The Wave

• Do you like music?
• Do you like saving the lives of children around the world?
• Are you interested in talking to medical students about admissions, interviews, and applications?
• Do you enjoy FREE DRINKS, FREE FOOD and PRIZES?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, be there.
When: Saturday October 25, 2008 - 8pm
Where: The Wave, University of Western Ontario,
     1151 Richmond St., London, ON N6A 5B8
What: The Junctional Rhythm - Rock Band made up
     of members of UWO Meds class of 2011
Cost: $15 for tickets at the door
     include food and 1 free drink

Tickets cost $15 and every dollar will be donated to Sleeping Children Around the World, a charitable organization dedicated to providing bedkits to children in developing countries, allowing them a good night's sleep and protection from malaria.
   (Plus, each ticket is good for one free drink and free food.)

Contact Information: Elise Dalton

Tolnai Goulash Dinner in Orillia

Submitted by Dave Dryden

For the past twelve years, Jem and Anne Tolnai have been holding an annual Goulash Dinner in their backyard in support of Sleeping Children Around the World. Through their efforts and those of their children, Todd and Taryn (a SCAW travelling volunteer to Kenya in 2006) and her recent husband Doug, they have provided bedkits to hundreds of children and raised the awareness of SCAW far beyond their home area of Orillia, Ontario.

Jim cooks the goulash and bakes the bread. Anne spends months baking the pies, cookies, and cakes that fill the first floor of their home on the day of the Goulash Dinner.

Thanks to the Tolnai family for their caring and tireless efforts. They're an inspiration to all. It's through efforts such as these that Sleeping Children has been able to help almost one million children.

This year marks the last year of their annual event, but Jim and Anne say to watch out next year for their fruit and vegetable stand. Their Goulash Dinners may have ended, but their support of Sleeping Children is going to continue.

More pictures to come.

Harley owners help Sleeping Children

Sleeping Children travelling volunteer, Harry Gauthier, reports:

I bought myself a motorcycle and I have been cruising the country on it. Well, at the beginning of the month I attended the 20^th Ontario HOG Rally (Harley Owners Group) in Chatham, Ontario.

On the 1^st of August there was a Poker Run and one of the card stops was at a barbecue put on by the Kiwanis Club of Ridgetown. On the banner at the back of the tent was marked “Serving The Children of the World.” Upon reading that I went and asked the gentleman serving hotdogs, hamburgers, etc. where the money was going and he told me to help in the local community and also to Sleeping Children Around the World.

I told him that I was a travelling volunteer and about the trips I had been on. He also told me how his wife gave music lessons and asked a donation for the jar which was to collect funds for SCAW. I was pleased to hear of the support for Sleeping Children Around the World.

I am including a couple pictures. The gentleman’s name is Gary Wake and he is with the Ridgetown Kiwanis Club.

Harry Gauthier

Sleeping warm, sleeping well

As published in The Calgary Herald
Saturday, August 9, 2008


CHARITY - We may know the name Dryden from hockey players Dave and Ken, but two other Drydens created a legacy in 1970 that's continuing to make life better for children worldwide.

Murray and Margaret Dryden (parents to Dave and Ken) founded Sleeping Children Around the World in the belief that the comfort of a bed is a basic right of every child -- and for them, that translated into bedkits for children living in developing countries.

Today, each $30 kit contains items such as treated mosquito nets, covered foam mattresses, sheets, blankets, pillows, towels, school supplies and sandals, ensuring a good night's sleep no matter where the child is.

More than $20 million has been raised and 947,850 bedkits have been given out. For information about donating or volunteering, go to scaw.org.

© The Calgary Herald 2008