Jude’s Walk – Proposal

First, I’d like to thank you for your time and consideration regarding our proposal to host a walk benefiting SickKids at the Toronto Zoo on May 6th, 2018. I know this is a busy time of year for you, and I appreciate the time you’ve taken already to answer questions about running an event like this. I know that more discussion will happen over the next little while about our inquiry, and I’d love to elaborate a little further about our plans, our purpose, and why we think this is a perfect fit.

Craig and I were lucky enough to have three kids – Isla born in 2010, and twins Thomas and Jude born in 2014. On May 6th, 2016, Jude woke up with a low-grade fever but showed no other symptoms. He died suddenly in his sleep during his afternoon nap, and almost four months later they were finally able to determine that he had died from influenza B. They believe that the flu caused cardiac arrest. He’d otherwise been a perfectly healthy two-year-old.

Jude was an amazing little boy. He was smart and always figuring out things that seemed beyond his age. He loved to laugh and he was the troublemaker in our trio, always coming up with games and adventures. He gave the best hugs. He loved Superman and peanut butter and lions and penguins, and we loved taking the three of them on adventures, including to the zoo to visit their favourite animals.

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In the days following Jude’s sudden death, our friends and family rallied and collected funds for us to cover the costs of the funeral, lost wages, and whatever else we needed to look after Jude and ourselves how we needed to, without having to worry about cost. This was an incredible gift and lifted the financial stress of the situation off of us so that we could focus on what was important during the worst days of our life.

In the time following that, before learning Jude’s cause of death, we talked often of how we’d love to find a way to pay that forward. We know how fortunate we are to have so much support, and we also know that not everyone has that same benefit. After some research and conversations with SickKids, we learned about the Unforgettables Fund. This fund, established at SickKids by Dr. Glen Van Arsdell, provides financial assistance to the families of patients who won’t be going home again. After a long illness many families are already struggling financially, and this fund helps lift the additional burden on families who are suffering. While we didn’t have the experience of a long hospital stay before losing Jude, we know the pain of losing a child and we would love to reach out and help provide assistance for parents like us in their worst days. Many of our friends and family have had experience with SickKids and we know how important the care there is. We have a history of giving to SickKids, and we want to step in now to support this fund that helps approximately 25 families every year, helping to make sure that every child has a dignified funeral.

We have been members at the zoo for several years now, and made regular visits before that. We also have happy memories from our own childhoods, and we’ve loved the opportunity to carry that on and share this wonderful place with our own kids. Some of our favourite days with the three of them were spent walking the grounds and seeing the animals and learning together. The last time we took all three was just a couple weeks before Jude died, and we loved watching him laugh and say hello to the penguins in his sweet, happy little voice. Since Jude died we’ve maintained our zoo membership and continue to make regular visits, even making it our destination on January 16th this year to celebrate the boys’ birthday. We frequently plan trips there with friends and family.

We love the idea of bringing people together in one of Jude’s favourite places, where they can spend time together as families while helping other families at the same time. It feels right to bring support and love to the zoo while we do something good in Jude’s memory, especially because we believe so strongly in the incredible conservation work done there. We love the idea of welcoming more people to such an important place and reminding them of what a great place it is to spend a day with your family.

We recognize that there are challenges in taking on a project like this for the first time, and so we’ve been working hard doing background research on similar walks, and we’ve reached out to friends who have organized projects like this before. We both have a great deal of volunteer and fundraising experience, including years on Wilfrid Laurier University’s Shinerama executive to raise more than $350,000 for Cystic Fibrosis Canada, and several half marathons with Team In Training in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. We know that there’s a great deal of work behind large-scale events like this and we’re excited to take it on, as Craig and I both feel so strongly about supporting this great cause. As this would be the first year, we know that it’s difficult to anticipate what kind of participation we might have, but so far as we’ve tested the waters with friends and family we’ve received 100% commitment to participate, fundraise, and help in any way necessary. We know that we’re going in with a strong support base, and they’ve proven themselves through the past year and a half as we’ve navigated this time since losing Jude, and while we’ve been working hard to bring awareness to the need for flu prevention. We’re going in knowing it will be a great deal of work, and also knowing that we have a team of people on our side.

We also have support from SickKids, who are very enthusiastic about providing what we need to take this on. We’ve already been communicating with them about other similar events that people run to benefit SickKids, and what they’re able to do for us and how we can accomplish the rest. We’ve been looking at many walks and what we’re wanting to plan is very similar to the upcoming CIBC Run for the Cure 1K/5K, which we’ll be participating in as a family on October 1st. As we would like to use the same distances and a similar schedule, though only with a walking option, we’re looking forward to seeing it in action and getting an idea of how we could use it as a model for what we’d like to plan without having to reinvent the wheel.
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PROMOTION

On October 18th, 2016, we launched a flu shot advocacy campaign called For Jude, For Everyone. Our goal in this time has been to open up the conversation about how people can better protect themselves and their communities from the flu, primarily through vaccination and also with other ways to prevent the spread of illness. We’ve had a surprising amount of success, gaining support from elected representatives right up to the federal cabinet, and attracting attention from media straight across North America. As we look ahead to this coming flu season we’re already seeing our promotion ramp up and reach more and more people.

Because of our flu campaign, we’ve established a system of communication to get our message out and reach tens of thousands of people. In the midst of our advocacy work, we also spend time directing people to our list of favourite charities to support throughout the year, as a reminder that while Jude is gone and there’s nothing more that we can do to help him, we can honour his life by helping others. The zoo has been consistently on our list from the beginning and we’ve received a number of notifications of support from friends who have donated to the zoo for him, as well as to other important groups like SickKids, RMH, and UNICEF. We’ve found that we’ve had a great deal of impact directing people to make the world better, and we’d like to continue doing that and piggyback on the work we’re doing to promote the walk at various points through flu season (October-May) when our reach is the greatest.

While we would take advantage of the platform we’ve built for our flu campaign, we would not promote them jointly. We would put the link to the walk on the front page of our flu page as a way to direct the 30,000+ unique visitors our site receives towards the walk, but would not discuss the flu in combination with our work on the walk, and the pages built for the walk would not discuss the flu beyond mention of it being Jude’s cause of death.
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The following image is a proposed mock-up of the change we’d make to our landing page, giving people the option to be directed to either our flu education pages or our walk information pages.

Each image would act as a function to direct users to their desired destination, and we’d also have a unique link to direct people to the walk. But the benefit of using our current structure is that every user who comes to our site to learn about the flu would also see the notice about the walk and the location.

SickKids promotes all events run on their behalf on their website, and we’d continue to use social media to our advantage. Because of our circumstances, we’ve been involved in groups for parents who have lost children, parents who have lost pregnancies, and we also have many friends who are connected to networks of people who have benefited from SickKids and other hospitals for care for their children. As we’re active in our community we also have the support of several organizations in Mississauga who will help us get the word out. Overall, while our fundraising reach is widespread, we’re also able to specifically target many groups through the GTA who might not already make a habit of going to the zoo, and give them a great way to go out for a day together and help others with their kids. Additionally, we would reach out to the media contacts we’ve made in the last year for coverage of the event.

Within the site we create for the walk we would include a page specifically for the zoo, talking about the great work done there, highlights they might see along the walk routes and while visiting, and services located throughout the zoo to help them enjoy their visit. We’d highlight links to the Toronto Zoo’s official site to help people find the information they need to make the most of their time, as well as ways that they can support the zoo from home, including animal adoption. Our hope is that everyone who joins us for the walk finds the same appreciation for the zoo that our family has, and that those who can’t join will be inspired to reach out and send support in other ways, and plan a trip in the future.

The Toronto Zoo is a key element in the event we’re hoping to plan. While we could find an alternate location if it were necessary, we feel strongly that what makes this so special is the opportunity to share more of Jude while reaching out to help others. We love the idea of bringing families together to walk in his footsteps and find joy and laughter in the animals that brought him so much joy and laughter, and help them discover what we feel is one of Toronto’s greatest treasures.

We hope this has given you a better idea of our goals and vision for Jude’s Walk for SickKids, and why the Toronto Zoo is such an important part of this event for us.