People say it takes a village to raise a child. Guess what? It also takes a village to organize a Preemie Picnic! It was a very special day and many people came together to make it so special.
One of our wonderful nurses said the picnic is the “NICU nurse’s version of a Christmas bonus.” A parent said, “This is one of the most joyous days of my life, getting to come back here and show my child to the people who saved him.” There was a lot of magic in the air.
So it’s time to say thanks to everyone who worked so hard and gave so generously to make this picnic happen. Thank you Kraft Canada, who donated so many delicious treats and goodies!
To the firefighters … thank you for coming and bringing such an exciting BIG FIRETRUCK with you! And thank you to the Firefighter’s Association for getting us the best bouncy castle ever!
Thank you to Monkeywear.com who donated a beautiful MonkeyWrap that was won by this lucky family …
Thank you to Scholastic who donated wonderful books to give out to our families. What a great way to encourage early childhood literacy! And thank you to the Linden Fund who brought much-needed tents and who provided lovely t-shirts to give out.
Thank you to Sabrina Iacobelli who was the most supremely serene event planner ever. Thank you to Doug Nicholson who once again came through with beautiful photographs. Thank you to Sunnybrook Foundation who supported us in so many ways. We couldn’t do this without you! Thank you to the Estates of Sunnybrook who let us run wild in their back yard year after year. Thank you to Pizza Pizza who made it easy for us to feed so many people. Thank you to our talented face painters who did such an amazing job.
Thank you to ToroLUG who dazzled the kids with their wonderful creations. This was their first year at the picnic but we hope not the last. Everyone loves LEGO!
Thank you to Ray Anderson who is such a spectacular magician. Just looking at the faces of his audience tells the story, doesn’t it?
Thank you to all the volunteers who came and helped all day. You are wonderful and so necessary. One of the nicest thing about working with nurses is that you tend to be the type of people who just roll up your sleeves, get going and make problems and concerns disappear. And while all of you are spectacular, we do need to send a shout out to Rita who came up with the fantastic idea of doing handprints (and the occasional footprint).
The print station is definitely another thing we’ll bring back next year. It was just fabulous. Thanks, Rita!
And of course, we need to send a special, heartfelt, loving thank you to the families who come to celebrate together. You are all heroes!
So when the day came to a close, we all felt a little like this …
Very happy, very tired, and very excited for the next picnic … which will be (drumroll please)
Sunday, June 23, 2013!
Photo credit (all rights reserved): Doug Nicholson
