Marilyn Hill and Bud Adams set up a Sleeping Children display at the Kitchener Waterloo Non Violence Festival on Saturday, June 16th. The festival designated SCAW as its official charity this year.
We received donations totalling $238.25.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Kitchener Waterloo Non Violence Festival
Marilyn Hill and Bud Adams set up a Sleeping Children display at the Kitchener Waterloo Non Violence Festival on Saturday, June 16th. The festival designated SCAW as its official charity this year.
We received donations totalling $238.25.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Children of Kenya get good night's sleep thanks to Etobians
In the Etobicoke Guardian, June 14, 2007
BY CYNTHIA REASON
The one thing Etobicoke resident Veronique Presswood will take away from her recent mission to help the children of Kenya sleep better is the grateful expressions on their young faces.
"It's always the smiles of the kids - that's what gets you," she said of her two-week trip to Nairobi with Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW).
In March, Presswood, along with fellow Etobians Brenda Oliver and Duncan Macgregor, set out with three other volunteers to distribute 4,000 bed kits to the neediest children in the slums of Kenya's capital. The kits, consisting of a mattress, blanket, pillow, insecticide-treated mosquito net, light clothing, a towel and a few school supplies, left many of the children dumbfounded, Presswood said.
"This was probably the first time many of the kids had ever received anything new," she said. "A lot of them don't ever get out of the slums and the conditions they live in are just deplorable ... there's no running water and the bathroom facilities are beyond belief."
Since its founding in 1970 by Murray and Margaret Dryden - parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden - the Canadian charity has delivered more than 869,000 bed kits to children in 32 different developing countries.
The Kenya trip was Presswood's second such journey - last year she travelled to the Philippines. Like all SCAW volunteers, she paid all her own expenses on both trips - a policy that ensures every penny of the $30 donation is invested in a single child's bed kit.
"Even then, you come home feeling like you got more than you gave," she said.
Not only that, but all of the materials put into the kits are sourced and assembled by overseas partners in the country of distribution. In Kenya that partner was the Rotary Club of Nairobi, which not only assisted in the selection of the neediest children, but also arranged for all items to be made locally.
"That way, the kits not only benefit the kids, but also put money into the local economy," Presswood said, adding that a donation towards a SCAW bed kit makes a nice way to honour a friend. "It's only $30 and it does so much."
For every donation of a bed kit, donors receive a commemorative photo of the child who benefited from their generosity.
For more information on SCAW or to donate, go to www.scaw.org
BY CYNTHIA REASON
 |
| From Kenya Album 2007 |
The one thing Etobicoke resident Veronique Presswood will take away from her recent mission to help the children of Kenya sleep better is the grateful expressions on their young faces.
"It's always the smiles of the kids - that's what gets you," she said of her two-week trip to Nairobi with Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW).
In March, Presswood, along with fellow Etobians Brenda Oliver and Duncan Macgregor, set out with three other volunteers to distribute 4,000 bed kits to the neediest children in the slums of Kenya's capital. The kits, consisting of a mattress, blanket, pillow, insecticide-treated mosquito net, light clothing, a towel and a few school supplies, left many of the children dumbfounded, Presswood said.
"This was probably the first time many of the kids had ever received anything new," she said. "A lot of them don't ever get out of the slums and the conditions they live in are just deplorable ... there's no running water and the bathroom facilities are beyond belief."
Since its founding in 1970 by Murray and Margaret Dryden - parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden - the Canadian charity has delivered more than 869,000 bed kits to children in 32 different developing countries.
The Kenya trip was Presswood's second such journey - last year she travelled to the Philippines. Like all SCAW volunteers, she paid all her own expenses on both trips - a policy that ensures every penny of the $30 donation is invested in a single child's bed kit.
"Even then, you come home feeling like you got more than you gave," she said.
Not only that, but all of the materials put into the kits are sourced and assembled by overseas partners in the country of distribution. In Kenya that partner was the Rotary Club of Nairobi, which not only assisted in the selection of the neediest children, but also arranged for all items to be made locally.
"That way, the kits not only benefit the kids, but also put money into the local economy," Presswood said, adding that a donation towards a SCAW bed kit makes a nice way to honour a friend. "It's only $30 and it does so much."
For every donation of a bed kit, donors receive a commemorative photo of the child who benefited from their generosity.
For more information on SCAW or to donate, go to www.scaw.org
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Basics of Investing Seminar
Saturday June 9, 2007, 9:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Basics of Investing Seminar
SCAW volunteer Ted Swanston is raising money for SCAW and teaching people how to handle their money more wisely at the same time.
He says: "While most people have some familiarity with investing, many do not have the time in their busy lives to develop their understanding in this important area. I have developed The Basics of Investing Seminar. It deals with concepts fundamental to investing (I will not be recommending specific stocks or mutual funds). I am not connected with any financial institution, nor will I derive any compensation related to the seminar. I just want to help raise awareness of Sleeping Children Around The World, and to share my investing knowledge."
Topics Covered:
Cost: Each participant is invited to donate $60.00 ($90.00 for a couple) to SCAW.
To register: (maximum 15 persons) email Ted
Basics of Investing Seminar
SCAW volunteer Ted Swanston is raising money for SCAW and teaching people how to handle their money more wisely at the same time.
He says: "While most people have some familiarity with investing, many do not have the time in their busy lives to develop their understanding in this important area. I have developed The Basics of Investing Seminar. It deals with concepts fundamental to investing (I will not be recommending specific stocks or mutual funds). I am not connected with any financial institution, nor will I derive any compensation related to the seminar. I just want to help raise awareness of Sleeping Children Around The World, and to share my investing knowledge."
Topics Covered:
- Power of Compounding, Different Types of Investments, Return and Risk, Benefits of Diversification, Ideas for Investing, and Q&A.
- Impact of Income Taxes and Inflation, Borrowing, Selecting a Financial Advisor, Financial Planning, More Ideas for Investing, and Q&A.
Cost: Each participant is invited to donate $60.00 ($90.00 for a couple) to SCAW.
To register: (maximum 15 persons) email Ted
Monday, June 4, 2007
Great charities can be found, but it takes legwork
As part of an ongoing series, the Star looks at what makes a charity worthy of donations
... from the Toronto Sunday Star, Jun 03, 2007
by Kevin Donovan, Staff Reporter
Big-hearted Canadians directly donate $40 billion to charity every year, funding fights against disease, hunger, poverty and other causes in Canada and around the world.
Our governments give another $90 billion — funding school boards, hospitals and other big institutions considered charities under the law.
How do individual donors know which charity to support?
On the surface, it's almost impossible to tell. Charities can claim on official statements that they are doing good works — even if they are not.
The federal government's charity regulator has only 40 people trying to keep an eye on 82,000 charities. And every day, on average, another two charities are registered. When the federal Charities Directorate finds a charity is doing something wrong they can't tell the public.
As part of the Star's ongoing investigation we've found many great charities. Among them: Habitat for Humanity Toronto, Camp Trillium, United Way Toronto, Sleeping Children around the World, and Foodpath in Mississauga.
Why are they good?
Each one is heavy on volunteers, strong on good works you can see in action, and completely open to scrutiny. Each of the five have jumped through hoops to show they are doing a great job. The Star investigated and found that they are. We went beyond their published financial statements to look at their operations, interview staff and other people and groups who had contact with them.
Habitat for Humanity
Neil Hetherington, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity Toronto, runs a charity that has in the past five years built or is building 128 homes for people struggling financially. Habitat supports itself through an innovative "Restore" store that takes in building materials and resells them to the public. Their "grey power" volunteer team of retired professionals (lawyers, doctors, etc.) are often invited into a home renovation project to remove anything of value for resale in the restore. On Habitat's home building sites around the city, volunteers work with the prospective homeowner to construct a house, which the eventual owner pays for using an interest-free mortgage. Instead of giving people a charity handout, Hetherington said, "we are trying to break the cycle of poverty by giving access to capital."
What's an example of a big fundraising campaign for Habitat? Last year, they bought 10,000 brown paper leaf bags (at 69 cents apiece), put their name and slogan on it, and volunteers with wagons distributed them around the city with the idea that even if the homeowner who got the bag did not make a cash or material donation, it was still great curb-side advertising for a day or two. This fall they are handing out 20,000.
Habitat welcomes questions from donors. "We have a board policy that says any financial information is open to the public. You want to know how much a chair in our office costs? We will tell you," said Hetherington. His charity is very strict about how it presents information to the public. For example, all fundraising is fundraising (not recorded as public awareness as many charities do). Administration and fundraising is stated at 25 per cent of their expenditure annually, so 75 per cent of all expenditures are spent on good works. The Star finds that good charities spend at least 60 per cent of their budget on good works.
Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW)
This charity is over the top when it comes to delivering benefits and raising money on a shoestring budget. It's the charity founded by Murray Dryden, father of hockey goalie greats Ken and Dave. The latter, a retired principal, helps run the charity since his father died. At SCAW, they raise money to buy "bed kits" for children in developing countries. The kits differ depending on the country, but generally there is a comfortable mattress, a school uniform, raincoat, school supplies and perhaps a mosquito net. The charity spends absolutely no money on fundraising, because Murray insisted it all be word of mouth. Volunteers prepare the kits, volunteers travel on their own nickel (typically $4,000) to distribute the kits, and volunteers send out confirmation of donation photos to donors – all done from the Etobicoke home where Ken and Dave learned to stop shots in the backyard.
Dave and his wife Sandra just returned from a distribution trip to the Philippines where they and other volunteers gave out 5,000 kits to smiling children and their families. SCAW gets about $1.6 million in donations a year and 100 per cent goes to the bedkit program because an endowment fund left by Murray Dryden pays the rent and small salary of SCAW's lone employee.
"For the children and their families, and our volunteers, being involved with this charity is a priceless thing," said Dryden.
Foodpath
Based in Peel Region is one of those great food banks that gets donated food from individuals and grocers and then uses volunteers to truck it around and hand it out from their warehouse near Dixie Rd. and Dundas St. East in Mississauga. Ten thousand people pass through the food bank each month, and Beju Lakhani, volunteer fundraising chief, said their two issues are keeping up with the demand and paying the bills for electricity, gas and rent. "We're doing okay but I would have to say we are always on the edge," said Lakhani. He's the director of sales and marketing for a software company but spends many hours each week as a Foodpath volunteer. Half the people benefiting from Foodpath are children and the charity also supports local breakfast programs. Foodpath is so volunteer-intensive that most of its annual $500,000 budget is spent on acquiring and distributing food to the needy.
Camp Trillium
This is an innovative camp for children with cancer and their families. Their two campsites in Ontario, plus daycamps around the province, see 3,100 campers annually. About 80 per cent of Trillium's $3 million expenditure is spent directly on campers, with the remainder recorded as administration and fundraising.
The theme is this: Children with cancer, and their families, need a break – if only for a week. The camps provide a typical summer camp experience but parents, siblings come along with the camper. They have 100 paid summer staff and 300 volunteers – many counsellors are cancer survivors who attended the camp.
"Kids with cancer are still children," says Trillium development director Fiona Fisher. "They arrive at camp and they can be the first one up the climbing wall, they get to sing and play." The camps are funded by various community groups but among the most notable is an annual zero-cost Toronto-based event called Set Sail for Hope that brings the camp $155,000 each year.
Toronto yacht owners, at their own expense, provide their boats and skipper the journey. Restaurants like Rodney's Oyster House, Fred's Not Here and chefs at the Westin Harbour Castle cook up a fabulous lunch on the Toronto Islands (at their own expense) and then the skippers take their guests on an afternoon cruise. Corporate sponsors pay about $7,000 each (some give additional donations). Arthur Boas, a skipper and volunteer, said they organize the whole event with eight, one-hour meetings. Cheques are written by corporate sponsors directly to Camp Trillium, a camp that Boas said runs on the ultimate shoe string budget. "These guys hammer bent nails back into shape so they don't have to buy new ones."
The United Way of Greater Toronto
Old and familiar, the United Way raises money to distribute to other charities. Yes, it's a big organization with significant fundraising and administration costs. But what put it on our list was the heavy use of volunteers to raise money through workplace and other campaigns. Their public statements show that in 2005, $83.3 million was dispersed to other charities, out of total expenditures of $100 million. That 83 per cent is a good number in the charity world. The remainder of the money is spent on:administration ($2.8 million); fundraising expenditures to support volunteer campaigns ($9.9 million); and charitable works the United Way itself carries out ($3.7 million). One of the best things the Star found about United Way was the volunteer-based committees of experts who rigorously investigate charities United Way supports. That's why giving money to a United Way supported agency is a good bet.
There are, of course, other good charities around, but donors should get to know a charity before handing over any money. One place to start is The Charities Directorate, which makes all charity statements available online at: www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/charities
... from the Toronto Sunday Star, Jun 03, 2007
by Kevin Donovan, Staff Reporter
Big-hearted Canadians directly donate $40 billion to charity every year, funding fights against disease, hunger, poverty and other causes in Canada and around the world.
Our governments give another $90 billion — funding school boards, hospitals and other big institutions considered charities under the law.
How do individual donors know which charity to support?
On the surface, it's almost impossible to tell. Charities can claim on official statements that they are doing good works — even if they are not.
The federal government's charity regulator has only 40 people trying to keep an eye on 82,000 charities. And every day, on average, another two charities are registered. When the federal Charities Directorate finds a charity is doing something wrong they can't tell the public.
As part of the Star's ongoing investigation we've found many great charities. Among them: Habitat for Humanity Toronto, Camp Trillium, United Way Toronto, Sleeping Children around the World, and Foodpath in Mississauga.
Why are they good?
Each one is heavy on volunteers, strong on good works you can see in action, and completely open to scrutiny. Each of the five have jumped through hoops to show they are doing a great job. The Star investigated and found that they are. We went beyond their published financial statements to look at their operations, interview staff and other people and groups who had contact with them.
Habitat for Humanity
Neil Hetherington, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity Toronto, runs a charity that has in the past five years built or is building 128 homes for people struggling financially. Habitat supports itself through an innovative "Restore" store that takes in building materials and resells them to the public. Their "grey power" volunteer team of retired professionals (lawyers, doctors, etc.) are often invited into a home renovation project to remove anything of value for resale in the restore. On Habitat's home building sites around the city, volunteers work with the prospective homeowner to construct a house, which the eventual owner pays for using an interest-free mortgage. Instead of giving people a charity handout, Hetherington said, "we are trying to break the cycle of poverty by giving access to capital."
What's an example of a big fundraising campaign for Habitat? Last year, they bought 10,000 brown paper leaf bags (at 69 cents apiece), put their name and slogan on it, and volunteers with wagons distributed them around the city with the idea that even if the homeowner who got the bag did not make a cash or material donation, it was still great curb-side advertising for a day or two. This fall they are handing out 20,000.
Habitat welcomes questions from donors. "We have a board policy that says any financial information is open to the public. You want to know how much a chair in our office costs? We will tell you," said Hetherington. His charity is very strict about how it presents information to the public. For example, all fundraising is fundraising (not recorded as public awareness as many charities do). Administration and fundraising is stated at 25 per cent of their expenditure annually, so 75 per cent of all expenditures are spent on good works. The Star finds that good charities spend at least 60 per cent of their budget on good works.
Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW)
This charity is over the top when it comes to delivering benefits and raising money on a shoestring budget. It's the charity founded by Murray Dryden, father of hockey goalie greats Ken and Dave. The latter, a retired principal, helps run the charity since his father died. At SCAW, they raise money to buy "bed kits" for children in developing countries. The kits differ depending on the country, but generally there is a comfortable mattress, a school uniform, raincoat, school supplies and perhaps a mosquito net. The charity spends absolutely no money on fundraising, because Murray insisted it all be word of mouth. Volunteers prepare the kits, volunteers travel on their own nickel (typically $4,000) to distribute the kits, and volunteers send out confirmation of donation photos to donors – all done from the Etobicoke home where Ken and Dave learned to stop shots in the backyard.
Dave and his wife Sandra just returned from a distribution trip to the Philippines where they and other volunteers gave out 5,000 kits to smiling children and their families. SCAW gets about $1.6 million in donations a year and 100 per cent goes to the bedkit program because an endowment fund left by Murray Dryden pays the rent and small salary of SCAW's lone employee.
"For the children and their families, and our volunteers, being involved with this charity is a priceless thing," said Dryden.
Foodpath
Based in Peel Region is one of those great food banks that gets donated food from individuals and grocers and then uses volunteers to truck it around and hand it out from their warehouse near Dixie Rd. and Dundas St. East in Mississauga. Ten thousand people pass through the food bank each month, and Beju Lakhani, volunteer fundraising chief, said their two issues are keeping up with the demand and paying the bills for electricity, gas and rent. "We're doing okay but I would have to say we are always on the edge," said Lakhani. He's the director of sales and marketing for a software company but spends many hours each week as a Foodpath volunteer. Half the people benefiting from Foodpath are children and the charity also supports local breakfast programs. Foodpath is so volunteer-intensive that most of its annual $500,000 budget is spent on acquiring and distributing food to the needy.
Camp Trillium
This is an innovative camp for children with cancer and their families. Their two campsites in Ontario, plus daycamps around the province, see 3,100 campers annually. About 80 per cent of Trillium's $3 million expenditure is spent directly on campers, with the remainder recorded as administration and fundraising.
The theme is this: Children with cancer, and their families, need a break – if only for a week. The camps provide a typical summer camp experience but parents, siblings come along with the camper. They have 100 paid summer staff and 300 volunteers – many counsellors are cancer survivors who attended the camp.
"Kids with cancer are still children," says Trillium development director Fiona Fisher. "They arrive at camp and they can be the first one up the climbing wall, they get to sing and play." The camps are funded by various community groups but among the most notable is an annual zero-cost Toronto-based event called Set Sail for Hope that brings the camp $155,000 each year.
Toronto yacht owners, at their own expense, provide their boats and skipper the journey. Restaurants like Rodney's Oyster House, Fred's Not Here and chefs at the Westin Harbour Castle cook up a fabulous lunch on the Toronto Islands (at their own expense) and then the skippers take their guests on an afternoon cruise. Corporate sponsors pay about $7,000 each (some give additional donations). Arthur Boas, a skipper and volunteer, said they organize the whole event with eight, one-hour meetings. Cheques are written by corporate sponsors directly to Camp Trillium, a camp that Boas said runs on the ultimate shoe string budget. "These guys hammer bent nails back into shape so they don't have to buy new ones."
The United Way of Greater Toronto
Old and familiar, the United Way raises money to distribute to other charities. Yes, it's a big organization with significant fundraising and administration costs. But what put it on our list was the heavy use of volunteers to raise money through workplace and other campaigns. Their public statements show that in 2005, $83.3 million was dispersed to other charities, out of total expenditures of $100 million. That 83 per cent is a good number in the charity world. The remainder of the money is spent on:administration ($2.8 million); fundraising expenditures to support volunteer campaigns ($9.9 million); and charitable works the United Way itself carries out ($3.7 million). One of the best things the Star found about United Way was the volunteer-based committees of experts who rigorously investigate charities United Way supports. That's why giving money to a United Way supported agency is a good bet.
There are, of course, other good charities around, but donors should get to know a charity before handing over any money. One place to start is The Charities Directorate, which makes all charity statements available online at: www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/charities
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Mission Festival in Hamilton
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Mission Festival: Caring, Sharing Around the World
St. John United Church, Hamilton, Ontario
195 East 38th Street
11 am to 1:30 pm
On Pentecost Sunday there will be an information day to familiarize the congregation about different organizations that help people locally, in Canada and around the world. SCAW will be there.
Mission Festival: Caring, Sharing Around the World
St. John United Church, Hamilton, Ontario
195 East 38th Street
11 am to 1:30 pm
On Pentecost Sunday there will be an information day to familiarize the congregation about different organizations that help people locally, in Canada and around the world. SCAW will be there.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Local volunteer helped distribute bed kits to children in India
In the Stratford City Gazette, May, 2007
Stratford vet Doug MacDougald recently returned to his home in Stratford following a mission of mercy in Mumbai, India.
He travelled as part of a team of volunteers representing the registered Canadian charity Sleeping Children Around The World. The team distributed 7,500 bed kits in the area near Mumbai. All members of the team travelled at their own expense and without benefit of a tax receipt so the charity could fulfil its pledge to each of its donors that every penny of each $30 donation would be used to provide the items that the children received, states a press release.
Hockey legend Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret registered Sleeping Children Around the World in 1970 and to date the organization has delivered over 865,000 bed kits in 31 Third World countries.
The bed kit distributed in Mumbai included 20 different items intended to provide each child with a peaceful night's sleep and improved personal hygiene. All bed kits contained the same items including such things as: a sleeping mat, a cotton blanket, a wool blanket, a pillow, a towel, clothing (two sets), a sweater, a raincoat and a school bag.
Sleeping Children Around The World is a Canadian international not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing bedkits to children of any race and/or religion living in underdeveloped and developing countries.
SCAW works with reliable overseas partners who arrange for all items to be made in the country of distribution.
The Rotary Club of Mumbai was the partner for this distribution and fulfilled rigorous financial reporting to account for all expenditures.
This overseas partner also assisted in the selection of the neediest children.
Stratford vet Doug MacDougald recently returned to his home in Stratford following a mission of mercy in Mumbai, India.
He travelled as part of a team of volunteers representing the registered Canadian charity Sleeping Children Around The World. The team distributed 7,500 bed kits in the area near Mumbai. All members of the team travelled at their own expense and without benefit of a tax receipt so the charity could fulfil its pledge to each of its donors that every penny of each $30 donation would be used to provide the items that the children received, states a press release.
Hockey legend Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret registered Sleeping Children Around the World in 1970 and to date the organization has delivered over 865,000 bed kits in 31 Third World countries.
The bed kit distributed in Mumbai included 20 different items intended to provide each child with a peaceful night's sleep and improved personal hygiene. All bed kits contained the same items including such things as: a sleeping mat, a cotton blanket, a wool blanket, a pillow, a towel, clothing (two sets), a sweater, a raincoat and a school bag.
Sleeping Children Around The World is a Canadian international not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing bedkits to children of any race and/or religion living in underdeveloped and developing countries.
SCAW works with reliable overseas partners who arrange for all items to be made in the country of distribution.
The Rotary Club of Mumbai was the partner for this distribution and fulfilled rigorous financial reporting to account for all expenditures.
This overseas partner also assisted in the selection of the neediest children.
SCAW PRESS RELEASE: Kenya Distribution
Unforgettable
Don Potter struggles to put his experience into words. He says, “I don’t know how to start my report since so much is going through my mind”.
This is often the feeling that traveling volunteers articulate when they try to capture the strong emotions of a distribution for the Canadian Charity, Sleeping Children Around the World.
Don has recently returned from Kenya Africa. He saw slums where poverty is endemic. He now understands the threat of disease to these innocent children. He now better understands how it is possible that a child in Africa under the age of five dies every 30 seconds from malaria!
Don wrote about a child he encountered in the first distribution. This child was deaf and badly disfigured but he reached out to Don with a smile of uncontained happiness.
Sleeping Children Around the World is an exemplary Canadian Charity that pledges that every penny of a $30.00 donation will be invested in the bedkit. The six person team that traveled to Kenya paid all of their own expenses!
Murray and Margaret Dryden, parents of hockey legends Dave and Ken Dryden, registered this Charity in 1970 and to this date this unique organization has delivered over 869,000 bedkits in over 30 different third world countries.
The bedkit distributed in Kenya included 13 different items, including an insecticide treated mosquito net, intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. The bedkit contained such things as:
For more information please contact Tamara Kaftalovich, Account Executive, Maverick Public Relations Inc. @ 416-640-5525 or Grant Clark, Sleeping Children Around The World @ 416-231-1841.
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
 |
| From Kenya Album 2007 |
Don Potter struggles to put his experience into words. He says, “I don’t know how to start my report since so much is going through my mind”.
This is often the feeling that traveling volunteers articulate when they try to capture the strong emotions of a distribution for the Canadian Charity, Sleeping Children Around the World.
Don has recently returned from Kenya Africa. He saw slums where poverty is endemic. He now understands the threat of disease to these innocent children. He now better understands how it is possible that a child in Africa under the age of five dies every 30 seconds from malaria!
Don wrote about a child he encountered in the first distribution. This child was deaf and badly disfigured but he reached out to Don with a smile of uncontained happiness.
Sleeping Children Around the World is an exemplary Canadian Charity that pledges that every penny of a $30.00 donation will be invested in the bedkit. The six person team that traveled to Kenya paid all of their own expenses!
Murray and Margaret Dryden, parents of hockey legends Dave and Ken Dryden, registered this Charity in 1970 and to this date this unique organization has delivered over 869,000 bedkits in over 30 different third world countries.
The bedkit distributed in Kenya included 13 different items, including an insecticide treated mosquito net, intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. The bedkit contained such things as:
- mattress
- blanket
- bed sheet
- pillowcase
- pillow
- mosquito net
- shorts
- t-shirt
- towel
For more information please contact Tamara Kaftalovich, Account Executive, Maverick Public Relations Inc. @ 416-640-5525 or Grant Clark, Sleeping Children Around The World @ 416-231-1841.
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
SCAW PRESS RELEASE: Kenya Distribution
Canadian Charity Brings Hope to Kenya
Brenda Oliver, who is a traveling volunteer for the Canadian Charity, Sleeping Children Around the World, characterizes the slums of Nairobi, Kenya in a most poignant fashion. She writes that “we witnessed the children living in deplorable conditions…no running water…unsightly garbage strewn everywhere…open sewers…” Brenda and her team mates, four of whom are from the Toronto area, now better understand why an African child under the age of five dies every thirty seconds from malaria!
This team of volunteers distributed 4000 bedkits to impoverished children in Kenya Africa. These bedkits contained not only desperately needed bedding items, but also an insecticide-treated mosquito net.
Sleeping Children Around the World is an exemplary Canadian Charity that pledges to its donors that every penny of a $30.00 donation will be invested in the bedkit. The six person team that traveled to Kenya paid all of their own expenses.
Mr. Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret, parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden, registered this Charity in 1970 and to this date this unique organization has delivered over 869,000 bedkits in over 30 different third world countries.
The bedkit distributed in Kenya included 13 different items intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. Bedkit items included such things as:
For more information please contact Tamara Kaftalovich, Account Executive, Maverick Public Relations Inc. @ 416-640-5525 or Grant Clark, Sleeping Children Around The World @ 416-231-1841.
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
 |
| From Kenya Album 2007 |
Brenda Oliver, who is a traveling volunteer for the Canadian Charity, Sleeping Children Around the World, characterizes the slums of Nairobi, Kenya in a most poignant fashion. She writes that “we witnessed the children living in deplorable conditions…no running water…unsightly garbage strewn everywhere…open sewers…” Brenda and her team mates, four of whom are from the Toronto area, now better understand why an African child under the age of five dies every thirty seconds from malaria!
This team of volunteers distributed 4000 bedkits to impoverished children in Kenya Africa. These bedkits contained not only desperately needed bedding items, but also an insecticide-treated mosquito net.
Sleeping Children Around the World is an exemplary Canadian Charity that pledges to its donors that every penny of a $30.00 donation will be invested in the bedkit. The six person team that traveled to Kenya paid all of their own expenses.
Mr. Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret, parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden, registered this Charity in 1970 and to this date this unique organization has delivered over 869,000 bedkits in over 30 different third world countries.
The bedkit distributed in Kenya included 13 different items intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. Bedkit items included such things as:
- mattress
- blanket
- bed sheet
- pillowcase
- pillow
- mosquito net
- shorts
- t-shirt
- towel
For more information please contact Tamara Kaftalovich, Account Executive, Maverick Public Relations Inc. @ 416-640-5525 or Grant Clark, Sleeping Children Around The World @ 416-231-1841.
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Dunsford man helps children around world sleep better
Article in the The Lindsay Daily Post Online Edition May 16, 2007
Catherine Whitnall
DUNSFORD - Vic Wilbee is helping children around the world sleep better.
For four years, the Kennedy Bay Road resident has been collecting aluminum beverage cans for Murray Dryden’s Sleeping Children Around the World.
Dryden learned first hand how vital a few hours of comfort and sleep could be in battling extreme temperature, hopelessness, illness and hunger when he travelled east from Manitoba seeking work during the Great Depression of the 1930s. That experience later made him determined to ensure a good night’s sleep is a basic right of every child.
It led him to develop Sleeping Children Around the World with his wife, Margaret, in 1970. A retirement project, they decided to provide bedkits first to 50 children in India. The concept quickly grew and became their life focus.
Since its founding, Sleeping Children has raised more than $17 million to provide bedkits for more than 700,000 children in 31 developing countries.
Wilbee admitted he has a long way to go before he’s able to fundraise to that extent, but he’s honoured to do his part. Last year, with the help of family, friends and neighbours - as well as generous strangers who learned of the project by word of mouth - Wilbee raised $3,000 by collecting aluminum beverage cans. Considering each can is worth one-and-a-half cents, that’s pretty impressive.
“It sounds like a lot, but it’s amazing how quickly it adds up,” he noted.
Learning of the Drydens and their work from an acquaintance, Wilbee thought it was such a great cause he decided to get involved.
“I think the best thing about Sleeping Children Around the World is that 100 per cent of what is raised goes to help the children,” he said. “Even the people who go there don’t get any financial support. They have to totally pay their own way.”
With everyone’s help, Wilbee said it’s not long before his bins fill up with a variety of aluminum beverage cans. Wilbee also takes cast aluminum barbecues and almost anything else made of aluminum, copper or brass. He has recently added the large metal satellite dishes and scrap cars to the list - the latter of which is split with Sleeping Children to cover towing and incidental costs.
Wilbee said every little bit counts.
“Four years ago, I collected $300 worth of aluminum beverage cans and I thought that was great,” he said, noting each $30 donation (Canadian) provides a bedkit of a mat or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito net (if applicable), clothing outfit, towel and school supplies. Kit contents vary from country to country depending on local needs.
Individuals and groups are urged to save their aluminum beverage cans and put them in clear plastic bags. They can drop them off in Wilbee’s 18 Deerwood Ave. driveway or call him at 793-9955. People can also e-mail Vic. Those donating scrap cars or unwanted satellite dishes - which are dismantled and sold for scrap metal just like the cans and cars - are asked to call Jim Foster at 793-2004.
For more information on Sleeping Children e-mail SCAW.
Catherine Whitnall
DUNSFORD - Vic Wilbee is helping children around the world sleep better.
For four years, the Kennedy Bay Road resident has been collecting aluminum beverage cans for Murray Dryden’s Sleeping Children Around the World.
Dryden learned first hand how vital a few hours of comfort and sleep could be in battling extreme temperature, hopelessness, illness and hunger when he travelled east from Manitoba seeking work during the Great Depression of the 1930s. That experience later made him determined to ensure a good night’s sleep is a basic right of every child.
It led him to develop Sleeping Children Around the World with his wife, Margaret, in 1970. A retirement project, they decided to provide bedkits first to 50 children in India. The concept quickly grew and became their life focus.
Since its founding, Sleeping Children has raised more than $17 million to provide bedkits for more than 700,000 children in 31 developing countries.
Wilbee admitted he has a long way to go before he’s able to fundraise to that extent, but he’s honoured to do his part. Last year, with the help of family, friends and neighbours - as well as generous strangers who learned of the project by word of mouth - Wilbee raised $3,000 by collecting aluminum beverage cans. Considering each can is worth one-and-a-half cents, that’s pretty impressive.
“It sounds like a lot, but it’s amazing how quickly it adds up,” he noted.
Learning of the Drydens and their work from an acquaintance, Wilbee thought it was such a great cause he decided to get involved.
“I think the best thing about Sleeping Children Around the World is that 100 per cent of what is raised goes to help the children,” he said. “Even the people who go there don’t get any financial support. They have to totally pay their own way.”
With everyone’s help, Wilbee said it’s not long before his bins fill up with a variety of aluminum beverage cans. Wilbee also takes cast aluminum barbecues and almost anything else made of aluminum, copper or brass. He has recently added the large metal satellite dishes and scrap cars to the list - the latter of which is split with Sleeping Children to cover towing and incidental costs.
Wilbee said every little bit counts.
“Four years ago, I collected $300 worth of aluminum beverage cans and I thought that was great,” he said, noting each $30 donation (Canadian) provides a bedkit of a mat or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito net (if applicable), clothing outfit, towel and school supplies. Kit contents vary from country to country depending on local needs.
Individuals and groups are urged to save their aluminum beverage cans and put them in clear plastic bags. They can drop them off in Wilbee’s 18 Deerwood Ave. driveway or call him at 793-9955. People can also e-mail Vic. Those donating scrap cars or unwanted satellite dishes - which are dismantled and sold for scrap metal just like the cans and cars - are asked to call Jim Foster at 793-2004.
For more information on Sleeping Children e-mail SCAW.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
SCAW PRESS RELEASE: Mumbai Distribution
7,500 Beaming Faces
Doug Macdougald can now reflect upon his experiences in Mumbai, India. He vividly remembers 7,500 beautiful children! Some had never been in a vehicle before. Many had never had their picture taken or had never seen a person whose skin was white! They were often cautious, shy and afraid. These children, through no fault of their own, were trapped in a cycle of poverty where their families subsisted on less than a dollar a day.
Doug also witnessed their joy when they received a bed kit – a gift made possible through the charitable work of an organization named Sleeping Children Around The World.
Sleeping Children Around The World is an exemplary Canadian Charity that pledges to its donors that every penny of a $30.00 donation will be invested in the bed kit. The five person team that traveled to Mumbai paid all of their own expenses!
Mr. Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret, parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden, registered this Charity in 1970 and to this date this unique organization has delivered over 865,000 bed kits in over 30 different third world countries
The bed kit distributed in Mumbai included 20 different items intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. All bed kits contained the same items including such things as:
For more information please contact Tamara Kaftalovich, Account Executive, Maverick Public Relations Inc. @ 416-640-5525 or Grant Clark, Sleeping Children Around The World @ 416-231-1841.
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
Doug Macdougald can now reflect upon his experiences in Mumbai, India. He vividly remembers 7,500 beautiful children! Some had never been in a vehicle before. Many had never had their picture taken or had never seen a person whose skin was white! They were often cautious, shy and afraid. These children, through no fault of their own, were trapped in a cycle of poverty where their families subsisted on less than a dollar a day.
Doug also witnessed their joy when they received a bed kit – a gift made possible through the charitable work of an organization named Sleeping Children Around The World.
Sleeping Children Around The World is an exemplary Canadian Charity that pledges to its donors that every penny of a $30.00 donation will be invested in the bed kit. The five person team that traveled to Mumbai paid all of their own expenses!
Mr. Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret, parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden, registered this Charity in 1970 and to this date this unique organization has delivered over 865,000 bed kits in over 30 different third world countries
The bed kit distributed in Mumbai included 20 different items intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. All bed kits contained the same items including such things as:
- Sleeping mat
- Cotton blanket
- Wool blanket
- Pillow
- Towel
- Clothing (two sets)
- Sweater
- Raincoat
- School bag
For more information please contact Tamara Kaftalovich, Account Executive, Maverick Public Relations Inc. @ 416-640-5525 or Grant Clark, Sleeping Children Around The World @ 416-231-1841.
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
Monday, May 14, 2007
SCAW PRESS RELEASE: Chennai Distribution
Dryden Charity Touches the Lives of 869,550 Children
Richard and Joan Hryniw have just returned from Chennai, India where they completed another distribution of 5,000 bed kits on behalf of the Charity that they love! SLEEPING CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD has become a passion in their lives. They have been on many trips and are proud to represent this exemplary organization. Richard and Joan will tell you that this Charity insures that each bed kit arrives in the hands of a deserving child because a traveling volunteer personally places it in these small but appreciative arms. They will proudly announce that every penny of each $30.00 donation is spent on the contents of the bed kit because traveling volunteers pay all of their own expenses. They will reassure donors that all funds that are transferred to our overseas partners (often Rotary Clubs) are subject to a detailed financial report to guarantee that all expenditures are held to very strict account. But most of all they speak about the children.
SLEEPING CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD was registered as a Canadian Charity in 1970 by Mr. Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret, parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden. To date this unique Charity has raised in excess of 20 million dollars and distributed bed kits to 869,550 children in 31 different third world countries.
The bed kit distributed in Chennai contains 23 different items intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. Recently a mosquito net has been included in the bed kit to keep the children safe from malaria!
Bed kit items include such things as:
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
Richard and Joan Hryniw have just returned from Chennai, India where they completed another distribution of 5,000 bed kits on behalf of the Charity that they love! SLEEPING CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD has become a passion in their lives. They have been on many trips and are proud to represent this exemplary organization. Richard and Joan will tell you that this Charity insures that each bed kit arrives in the hands of a deserving child because a traveling volunteer personally places it in these small but appreciative arms. They will proudly announce that every penny of each $30.00 donation is spent on the contents of the bed kit because traveling volunteers pay all of their own expenses. They will reassure donors that all funds that are transferred to our overseas partners (often Rotary Clubs) are subject to a detailed financial report to guarantee that all expenditures are held to very strict account. But most of all they speak about the children.
SLEEPING CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD was registered as a Canadian Charity in 1970 by Mr. Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret, parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden. To date this unique Charity has raised in excess of 20 million dollars and distributed bed kits to 869,550 children in 31 different third world countries.
The bed kit distributed in Chennai contains 23 different items intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. Recently a mosquito net has been included in the bed kit to keep the children safe from malaria!
Bed kit items include such things as:
- Mattress
- Quilt
- Bed sheets
- Pillow
- Towels
- Mosquito net
- Shirt
- Shorts or dress
- Woolen blanket
- Plastic bucket
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
SCAW PRESS RELEASE: Kolkata Distribution
Local Volunteer Reaps Rewards from Acts of Kindness in Kolkata India
Tom Chudleigh has recently returned to his home in Milton, Ontario from an exhilarating experience in Kolkata, India. Tom traveled as part of a team of six volunteers representing a registered Canadian Charity called Sleeping Children Around The World. This team distributed 6500 bed kits in the area near Kolkata, India. All members of the team traveled at their own expense and without benefit of a tax receipt so this Charity could fulfill its pledge to each of its donors that every penny of each $30.00 donation would be used to provide the items that the children received.
Mr. Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret, parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden, registered this Charity in 1970 and to date this unique organization has delivered over 865,000 bed kits in 31 third world countries.
The bed kit distributed to impoverished children in Kolkata included 27 different items intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. All bed kits contained the same items including such things as:
For more information please contact Tamara Kaftalovich, Account Executive, Maverick Public Relations Inc. @ 416-640-5525 or Grant Clark, Sleeping Children Around The World @ 416-231-1841.
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
Tom Chudleigh has recently returned to his home in Milton, Ontario from an exhilarating experience in Kolkata, India. Tom traveled as part of a team of six volunteers representing a registered Canadian Charity called Sleeping Children Around The World. This team distributed 6500 bed kits in the area near Kolkata, India. All members of the team traveled at their own expense and without benefit of a tax receipt so this Charity could fulfill its pledge to each of its donors that every penny of each $30.00 donation would be used to provide the items that the children received.
Mr. Murray Dryden and his wife Margaret, parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden, registered this Charity in 1970 and to date this unique organization has delivered over 865,000 bed kits in 31 third world countries.
The bed kit distributed to impoverished children in Kolkata included 27 different items intended to provide each child with a safe and peaceful night’s sleep. All bed kits contained the same items including such things as:
- mattress
- nylon mat
- pillow
- bed sheets
- mosquito net
- shorts/shirt or dress
- wool blanket
- t-shirt
- sandals
- towel
- woolen shawl
For more information please contact Tamara Kaftalovich, Account Executive, Maverick Public Relations Inc. @ 416-640-5525 or Grant Clark, Sleeping Children Around The World @ 416-231-1841.
Also available for as a PDF file via download.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Mother’s Day Concert in Etobicoke
Sunday, May 13, 2007: 2 pm
Mother's Day Concert in support of Sleeping Children Around the World
There will be a concert of sacred and secular music performed by The Chancel Choir of St. James United Church, under the direction of Clive Dunstan Mus. Bac., A.R.C.T., C.R.C.C.O. With Special Guest Pianist: Annie Zhou, Age 8, and winner of the RCM Scholarship.
Location: St. James United Church is at 400 Burnhamthorpe Road, Etobicoke
Tickets: Adults $10.00. Children (under 12) $5.00
Information: St. James United Church (416) 622-4113
Don't miss this opportunity to treat your mother on Mother's Day to a wonderful concert and support a charity which aids thousands of underprivileged children of the Third World, through the dedication of Canadian volunteers.
Mother's Day Concert in support of Sleeping Children Around the World
There will be a concert of sacred and secular music performed by The Chancel Choir of St. James United Church, under the direction of Clive Dunstan Mus. Bac., A.R.C.T., C.R.C.C.O. With Special Guest Pianist: Annie Zhou, Age 8, and winner of the RCM Scholarship.
Location: St. James United Church is at 400 Burnhamthorpe Road, Etobicoke
Tickets: Adults $10.00. Children (under 12) $5.00
Information: St. James United Church (416) 622-4113
Don't miss this opportunity to treat your mother on Mother's Day to a wonderful concert and support a charity which aids thousands of underprivileged children of the Third World, through the dedication of Canadian volunteers.
Friday, May 11, 2007
The big business of giving - and the mom & pop story
Commentary in Inside Stratford/Perth that was published on May 11, 2007
It refers to the article mentioned here earlier.
One of the most striking details of the story we ran last week on Doug MacDougald and Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW) didn't actually get much mention in the piece.
The structure of the charity is designed to make sure absolutely every penny in donations towards bed-kits goes towards bed-kits. When a volunteer at SCAW's head office – a brown brick bungalow in Toronto – goes out to buy stamps, the money for those stamps comes from a completely segregated revenue stream.
Operating expenses (stamps, phone bills, that sort of thing) are 95% paid for out of investment income. When you send a cheque to SCAW, it either goes into the the operating account or the bed-kit account, and never the twain shall meet.
It's an interesting model because it's so austere. Everybody buys his or her own plane ticket, and if there isn't enough money to buy toner for the photocopier this month, there simply isn't any way to get it from the bed-kit account.
Knowing that it's easy to spend (and waste) other people's money, the Dryden family, of Toronto, have built a group that does the most possible good with the least possible opportunity for graft.
The disadvantage of this model lies in the independence of the organization. Non-profits that don't take government money, don't pool resources, don't broadcast their message with costly, sophisticated ad campaigns, and don't hire specialized administrative staff are very little fish, indeed.
Given the demands on the average donor's attention, the constant hectoring of disease lobbies and foreign aid groups and environmental advocates and so on, it's hard to imagine any kind of fair distribution of money to the best causes. When charities "raise awareness", they are really trying to raise awareness of their cause higher than awareness of other causes; otherwise, they won't get your support.
This leads to a kind of shouting match. Hardly the best way to choose how we allocate our "greater good" resources.
The alternative, of course, is to pass off responsibility for prioritizing charitable spending to someone who we believe is an expert, a professional. Just give the money to the government or the United Way and let them sort it out. They do this stuff all day, after all.
And the downside here is bloat, waste, petty corruption, and loss of control on the part of the individual donor. So pick your poison, I suppose. Still, the Drydens have done something pretty special, it seems to me, and it is hard to imagine a way to give money that would provide more good per dollar.
Here is a link to the original article.
It refers to the article mentioned here earlier.
One of the most striking details of the story we ran last week on Doug MacDougald and Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW) didn't actually get much mention in the piece.
The structure of the charity is designed to make sure absolutely every penny in donations towards bed-kits goes towards bed-kits. When a volunteer at SCAW's head office – a brown brick bungalow in Toronto – goes out to buy stamps, the money for those stamps comes from a completely segregated revenue stream.
Operating expenses (stamps, phone bills, that sort of thing) are 95% paid for out of investment income. When you send a cheque to SCAW, it either goes into the the operating account or the bed-kit account, and never the twain shall meet.
It's an interesting model because it's so austere. Everybody buys his or her own plane ticket, and if there isn't enough money to buy toner for the photocopier this month, there simply isn't any way to get it from the bed-kit account.
Knowing that it's easy to spend (and waste) other people's money, the Dryden family, of Toronto, have built a group that does the most possible good with the least possible opportunity for graft.
The disadvantage of this model lies in the independence of the organization. Non-profits that don't take government money, don't pool resources, don't broadcast their message with costly, sophisticated ad campaigns, and don't hire specialized administrative staff are very little fish, indeed.
Given the demands on the average donor's attention, the constant hectoring of disease lobbies and foreign aid groups and environmental advocates and so on, it's hard to imagine any kind of fair distribution of money to the best causes. When charities "raise awareness", they are really trying to raise awareness of their cause higher than awareness of other causes; otherwise, they won't get your support.
This leads to a kind of shouting match. Hardly the best way to choose how we allocate our "greater good" resources.
The alternative, of course, is to pass off responsibility for prioritizing charitable spending to someone who we believe is an expert, a professional. Just give the money to the government or the United Way and let them sort it out. They do this stuff all day, after all.
And the downside here is bloat, waste, petty corruption, and loss of control on the part of the individual donor. So pick your poison, I suppose. Still, the Drydens have done something pretty special, it seems to me, and it is hard to imagine a way to give money that would provide more good per dollar.
Here is a link to the original article.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Harbour Grace woman inspired by worthy cause
Article published in The Compass, Trinity and Conception Bays, Nova Scotia on May 8, 2007"
Bill Bowman, The Compass
Tens of thousands of children around the world are getting a more comfortable night's sleep, thanks to the inspiration and generosity of one man.
Murray Dryden may not be as well known across Canada as his hockey legend son, Ken, who went on to a political career as a federal cabinet minister and candidate for leadership of the federal Liberal party. But the elder Dryden will long be remembered as the founder and driving force behind an organization, which, for 37 years, has been helping disadvantaged children around the world.
Murray Dryden, founder of Sleeping Children Around the World came from humble roots, having grown up on a small farm in Manitoba.
As a young man, his desire to become independent saw him leave home. But instead of heading west, he headed east.
After more than two years of travel, he would end up in Toronto, a journey that, under normal circumstances, would have taken a matter of days.
But this was the early 1930s - better known as the dirty thirties - the years of the Great Depression, when abject poverty was rampant and the road to anywhere was a rough one.
Gwen Morris of Harbour Grace will never forget meeting Murray Dryden in 1989. Impressed by how "down to earth" Dryden was, Morris was also inspired by his strong dedication and commitment to the cause he was championing.
Last Monday, April 29, the soft-spoken Harbour Grace woman came to the Carbonear Memorial Library to speak to members of the Harbour Grace and Carbonear Library boards about Dryden and the organization he founded.
Recounting his first journey from home, she told the group: "Most nights he slept anywhere but in a comfortable bed. Very seldom having a good meal, he sometimes went for days without anything to eat. Most of the time, all he had was the clothes on his back."
But in Toronto, he worked hard to get on his feet and build up a successful construction business. Eventually, his success would allow him to travel the world.
In 1970 while travelling in Pakistan, Murray Dryden stumbled over a child sleeping in a street.
According to a volunteer worker with his organization, the image of that child was to grow and become the focus of his and Margaret's (his wife's) retirement years.
The image of that sleeping street child must have reminded Dryden of his own humble beginnings at home in Canada. He once said: "There is nothing more peaceful than a sleeping child."
When he retired in 1972, Dryden devoted all his time and energy to Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW), the new Canadian charity he and his wife had launched two years earlier.
The organization's main focus is to provide bed kits to children around the world, who do not have a place to put their heads at night.
The bed kits include: a mattress, blanket, pillow and pillow cases, a toy, two sets of pyjamas, pencils, paper and a carrying bag. Sometimes, depending on the location, other items such as mosquito nets may be provided, if they are needed.
The organization works in third world countries where kits are distributed, through churches, the Salvation Army, and service clubs like Rotary, YMCA and Kiwanis International.
It was through Kiwanis that Gwen Morris first met Murray Dryden. Gwen's late husband, Frank, was a past president of the Kiwanis Club of Carbonear and Governor of Kiwanis for Newfoundland and Labrador. They met Dryden at a Kiwanis International convention in 1989.
Children in India, Indonesia, Portugal, the Philippines, Columbia, Argentina, Thailand and Honduras have all benefitted from the bed kits provided by Sleeping Children Around the World.
While the donations to provide the bed kits come from Canada, the kits themselves are actually made up in the countries where they are being used - providing much needed employment there.
The numbers of kits distributed on each trip can vary from 1,000 to 11,000.
Some 5,000 bed kits were distributed to needy children in Kenya in March of this year, bringing to 869,850, the total number of kits provided since the organization was launched.
Recalling that when he started the organization, Murray Dryden's goal was to provide a million bed kits to needy children, Gwen Morris said last week, "they are getting close to reaching his goal."
One woman who helped distribute bed kits in India said: "There is such a huge quantity of unconditional love that accompanies each gift of a bed kit, that to be part of a recent distribution was a very healing experience for me."
In the early 1970s, when the organization was launched, the bed kits could be provided for $15 each. Now inflation has doubled that cost to $30, which Gwen Morris says, is still not a lot for people who live here in Canada, where we have so much, compared to those who live in third world countries.
When they started their worthy cause, she said, "the Drydens were determined that not one cent from donors would be used for administration."
Murray Dryden wrote three books: With God Nothing is Impossible, For the Love of His Children and his autobiography.
All proceeds from these works went towards SCAW. He also started three Christmas tree farms, the profits from which also go to the worthy cause.
To underscore how passionate Dryden felt about SCAW, he travelled extensively and spoke prolifically about his cause - up to as many as 30 speaking engagements in a single month, and some 257 presentations in one year (1990).
In 1988, Murray Dryden received the Kiwanis International Service Award of $10,000, which he promptly turned over to SCAW.
After devoting the last 34 years of his life to the cause, Murray Dryden died in 2004. He was 94. But for anyone who thought it impossible to give any more to any cause after one's death, the Drydens' family home was recently turned over to Sleeping Children Around the World.
After speaking at the Carbonear Library last week, Gwen Morris presented copies of Dryden's book, For the Love of His Children to the Carbonear and Harbour Grace public libraries. The books were donated in memory of her late husband, Frank Morris.
While most of the volunteers come from Ontario, donations come in from all over the country.
Sleeping Children Around the World is an organization not very well known in this province. Indeed most of those who attended last week's talk had never heard of it. But Gwen Morris feels so strongly about the organization and its work, she is willing to speak to church and community groups and do anything she can to help spread the word. "I think I've got some of the passion Murray Dryden had for it," she says.
Bill Bowman, The Compass
Tens of thousands of children around the world are getting a more comfortable night's sleep, thanks to the inspiration and generosity of one man.
Murray Dryden may not be as well known across Canada as his hockey legend son, Ken, who went on to a political career as a federal cabinet minister and candidate for leadership of the federal Liberal party. But the elder Dryden will long be remembered as the founder and driving force behind an organization, which, for 37 years, has been helping disadvantaged children around the world.
Murray Dryden, founder of Sleeping Children Around the World came from humble roots, having grown up on a small farm in Manitoba.
As a young man, his desire to become independent saw him leave home. But instead of heading west, he headed east.
After more than two years of travel, he would end up in Toronto, a journey that, under normal circumstances, would have taken a matter of days.
But this was the early 1930s - better known as the dirty thirties - the years of the Great Depression, when abject poverty was rampant and the road to anywhere was a rough one.
Gwen Morris of Harbour Grace will never forget meeting Murray Dryden in 1989. Impressed by how "down to earth" Dryden was, Morris was also inspired by his strong dedication and commitment to the cause he was championing.
Last Monday, April 29, the soft-spoken Harbour Grace woman came to the Carbonear Memorial Library to speak to members of the Harbour Grace and Carbonear Library boards about Dryden and the organization he founded.
Recounting his first journey from home, she told the group: "Most nights he slept anywhere but in a comfortable bed. Very seldom having a good meal, he sometimes went for days without anything to eat. Most of the time, all he had was the clothes on his back."
But in Toronto, he worked hard to get on his feet and build up a successful construction business. Eventually, his success would allow him to travel the world.
In 1970 while travelling in Pakistan, Murray Dryden stumbled over a child sleeping in a street.
According to a volunteer worker with his organization, the image of that child was to grow and become the focus of his and Margaret's (his wife's) retirement years.
The image of that sleeping street child must have reminded Dryden of his own humble beginnings at home in Canada. He once said: "There is nothing more peaceful than a sleeping child."
When he retired in 1972, Dryden devoted all his time and energy to Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW), the new Canadian charity he and his wife had launched two years earlier.
The organization's main focus is to provide bed kits to children around the world, who do not have a place to put their heads at night.
The bed kits include: a mattress, blanket, pillow and pillow cases, a toy, two sets of pyjamas, pencils, paper and a carrying bag. Sometimes, depending on the location, other items such as mosquito nets may be provided, if they are needed.
The organization works in third world countries where kits are distributed, through churches, the Salvation Army, and service clubs like Rotary, YMCA and Kiwanis International.
It was through Kiwanis that Gwen Morris first met Murray Dryden. Gwen's late husband, Frank, was a past president of the Kiwanis Club of Carbonear and Governor of Kiwanis for Newfoundland and Labrador. They met Dryden at a Kiwanis International convention in 1989.
Children in India, Indonesia, Portugal, the Philippines, Columbia, Argentina, Thailand and Honduras have all benefitted from the bed kits provided by Sleeping Children Around the World.
While the donations to provide the bed kits come from Canada, the kits themselves are actually made up in the countries where they are being used - providing much needed employment there.
The numbers of kits distributed on each trip can vary from 1,000 to 11,000.
Some 5,000 bed kits were distributed to needy children in Kenya in March of this year, bringing to 869,850, the total number of kits provided since the organization was launched.
Recalling that when he started the organization, Murray Dryden's goal was to provide a million bed kits to needy children, Gwen Morris said last week, "they are getting close to reaching his goal."
One woman who helped distribute bed kits in India said: "There is such a huge quantity of unconditional love that accompanies each gift of a bed kit, that to be part of a recent distribution was a very healing experience for me."
In the early 1970s, when the organization was launched, the bed kits could be provided for $15 each. Now inflation has doubled that cost to $30, which Gwen Morris says, is still not a lot for people who live here in Canada, where we have so much, compared to those who live in third world countries.
When they started their worthy cause, she said, "the Drydens were determined that not one cent from donors would be used for administration."
Murray Dryden wrote three books: With God Nothing is Impossible, For the Love of His Children and his autobiography.
All proceeds from these works went towards SCAW. He also started three Christmas tree farms, the profits from which also go to the worthy cause.
To underscore how passionate Dryden felt about SCAW, he travelled extensively and spoke prolifically about his cause - up to as many as 30 speaking engagements in a single month, and some 257 presentations in one year (1990).
In 1988, Murray Dryden received the Kiwanis International Service Award of $10,000, which he promptly turned over to SCAW.
After devoting the last 34 years of his life to the cause, Murray Dryden died in 2004. He was 94. But for anyone who thought it impossible to give any more to any cause after one's death, the Drydens' family home was recently turned over to Sleeping Children Around the World.
After speaking at the Carbonear Library last week, Gwen Morris presented copies of Dryden's book, For the Love of His Children to the Carbonear and Harbour Grace public libraries. The books were donated in memory of her late husband, Frank Morris.
While most of the volunteers come from Ontario, donations come in from all over the country.
Sleeping Children Around the World is an organization not very well known in this province. Indeed most of those who attended last week's talk had never heard of it. But Gwen Morris feels so strongly about the organization and its work, she is willing to speak to church and community groups and do anything she can to help spread the word. "I think I've got some of the passion Murray Dryden had for it," she says.
Monday, May 7, 2007
No Empty Gesture
An article published in Inside Stratford/Perth, May 7, 2007Local leaves big smiles, brings home a full heart
A Stratford veterinarian says spending more than two weeks in India distributing 7,500 bed-kits to children in the area around Mumbai (Bombay) has taught him lessons he won't soon forget.
Doug MacDougald, who, with four other Ontario volunteers, returned from India in February, told Inside Stratford/Perth, "We all know intellectually what conditions are like in places like India; we've all seen pictures, on television, in the newspapers. But in interacting with the people, and especially the kids, I feel I've come to know it emotionally. It's a very humbling experience, and the feeling of having gained a much broader perspective still hasn't faded from me."
The volunteers oversaw the distribution of bed-kits, each comprised of a sleeping mat, pillow, blanket, quilt, towel, lunch box, water bottle, rain coat, two sets of clothes, and a full complement of school supplies, on behalf of Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW). The charity was founded in 1970 by Margaret and Murray Dryden, the parents of politician and NHL goaltender Ken Dryden.
"I'm at a stage in my life where I'm looking to do different things, find different purposes," MacDougald said, "ways I can give my time and my energy." He talks about his parents' many years of involvement with SCAW, and the steady stream of photos of children receiving bed-kits their donations in his name, in his children's names, and latterly in his grandchildren's names, have brought in the mail.
His trip to India continues his family's decades-long connection with the subcontinent: his parents have always designated their bed-kit donations for children in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, in large part because his father was an RCAF officer stationed in India during the Second World War.
He went on to talk about some of the children he met. The distribution, he said, targeted children between 6 and 12 years old, and the children had been selected from area schools. Their parents, guardians, and grandparents, he said, were "auto-rickshaw drivers or construction workers, many, many of them making less than a dollar a day. They're making bricks, working in agriculture, or in textiles."
He mentioned a road crew he saw on one of the volunteers' drives through the countryside: "Even in road construction, everything is manual labour. There was a crew of men ditching beside the road, and they were digging the ditch with their hands." India has an abundance of people willing to work, he said, noting that "There is a huge demographic bulge. More than 50% of the 1.2 billion people there are under 25 years old."
And in spite of SCAW's good work, there are always more children who need a bed-kit than can be reached. MacDougald recalled one distribution at a school next to a brick yard. "There were these three little girls standing off to one side, among the bricks, watching, interested; but they didn't go to school." Because the selection of needy children had been done in partnership with local schools, kids like these simply remained invisible. But what struck MacDougald was the children's cheerfulness in the face of poverty, their "big smiles, excited play, and happiness in simple things."
SCAW's philosophy places a heavy emphasis on free-will giving and minimal administrative overhead. The organization says its financial structure and reliance on volunteers, in Canada and abroad, ensures that every penny of the $30 it takes to supply one bed-kit is spent on that bed-kit's contents.
Overseas partners take care of the actual purchase and distribution of bed-kits. In MacDougald's case, the primary partner agency was the Rotary Club of Mumbai, which co-ordinated the efforts of 55 local Rotary Clubs in the surrounding towns and villages targeted in this distribution.
Rotarians sourced all of the items in the bed-kits from domestic companies, selected local children in need of assistance, and organized distribution dates and sites. Producing the bed-kits in India cuts costs; as MacDougald put it, "You can get a lot more for $30 there." The kits also don't have to be shipped as far, and the substantial sum of donated money that pays for them stays in India.
Just as SCAW relies heavily on administrative volunteers and partner charities to keep overhead low, it doesn't subsidize the work of people like MacDougald. He paid for the trip himself; and, because SCAW's mandate excludes contributions from governments, he had to do it without a tax receipt. But that doesn't seem to stop people from signing up: "There's actually a waiting list" for SCAW's travelling volunteers program, MacDougald said. As for himself? "I've only been back for a couple of months, and I've already told them I'd be interested in going again."
You might also want to read a Commentary — May 11 which said more about Sleeping Children Around the World. We're the second item.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
MusicFest 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007: 4 pm and 7:30 pmMusicFest 2007 — Oh CANADA!
Presented by St. John’s Yorkmills Anglican Church at 19 Don Ridge Drive, Toronto (Near Yonge & York Mills subway).
A light-hearted concert that looks at the artists and music of Canada with audience participation. Featuring our handbell and vocal choirs, ‘ugly sticks,’ and guest fiddler Christopher Jääskeläinen.
Adults $15.00, Children $5.00
Proceeds to benefit Sleeping Children Around the World, Street Outreach Services & St. John’s.
Free Parking - Wheelchair Accessible
More information at the church website or call 416 225-6611
Friday, April 27, 2007
Kenya and Chennai Newsletter now on the website
Chennai
We have the Chennai Newsletter on the SCAW website. You can also read and download a PDF version from the SCAW Downloads page.
Kenya
We've just added the Kenya Newsletter to the SCAW website. You can also read and download a PDF version from the SCAW Downloads page.
We have the Chennai Newsletter on the SCAW website. You can also read and download a PDF version from the SCAW Downloads page.
Kenya
We've just added the Kenya Newsletter to the SCAW website. You can also read and download a PDF version from the SCAW Downloads page.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Knox Church off to great start in fundraising campaign
An article published in the Listowel Banner, March 28, 2007by Dan McNee
Listowel's Knox Presbyterian Church certainly has a unique way of celebrating a milestone.
Rather than throwing a large celebration as part of their 150th anniversary, the church is instead throwing a large fundraiser. Kicked off on March 25, Knox Presbyterian is looking to fund 150 bedkits for Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW), a Canadian-based charity that ensures children have a proper place to sleep at night.
"It's important for the community to help these children," said Knox program coordiantor Lorraine Burns, "It's important that we give."
Though the program was only kicked off at the church last Sunday, 42 bedkits have already been funded at $30 each. That money goes a long way, as it provides an adequate sleeping mat, a pillow, a mosquito net, school supplies, and other items depending on the country where they are going.
The bedkits are assembled in the country where they will be distributed, elminating shipping costs and helping to contribute to the countries' local economies by creating work for the locals. One hundred per cent of the $30 is allocated towards the bedkit, as seen to by foreign service clubs similar to Canada's Lion or Optimist organizations.
"That's the way it should be," said SCAW travelling volunteer Bud Adams of where the money raised is directed. "These service clubs are the ones that really have the tough job."
SCAW was founded in 1970 by Murray and Margaret Dryden, parents of Liberal politician and Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden. The charity has raised over $20 million in its 37-year history, and provided bedkits to over 800,000 children in 31 developing countries around the world, in Asia, South America and Africa. So far this year, 19,000 bedkits have been assembled for three regions in India, the second most populated country in the world.
"You're dealing with the poorest of the poor," said Mr. Adams. "We're looking for those whom (the bedkits) will benefit most."
Knox Presbyterian Church's bedkit campaign for SCAW runs until May. Donations can be made at the church every Sunday after service until that time, or through Lorraine Burns at (519) 291-4628. More information on Sleeping Children Around the World can be found at www.scaw.org
Mumbai Report and Newsletter Available
We've just added the Mumbai Newsletter to the SCAW website.
You can also read and download a PDF version from the SCAW Downloads page.
You can also read and download a PDF version from the SCAW Downloads page.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)