Buy a paper balloon for a great cause on August 20th! Raymond Hardisty will be at the market selling these balloons with all proceeds going to the Children’s Miracle Network. Raymond is a bone marrow transplant survivor and advocate for this wonderful charity. Here are his words explaining what motivated him to start this incredible effort:

Children’s Miracle Network is a non-profit organization with the mission to provide the best care & improve the lives of children at local Children’s Hospitals across Canada. Since 1983, CMN has been raising donations through CMN Miracle Balloon Campaigns. The donations collected go on to provide & support research, purchase life-saving equipment & excellence in care.

I started going to Sick Kids when I was just 5 months old & I had gone through quite the battle with one disease after the other; Kostmann’s Neutropenia from 5 months – 3 years old, Leukemia at age 4, Meningitis & the Flu at age 10. Then I went for yearly check-ups until I was discharge at age 18.

I started working for Dairy Queen in my hometown of Stayner in 2008 & every year during the summer the staff is required to ask customers if they would like to contribute to Sick Kids Hospital in the purchase of a Miracle Balloon. I set a goal each year to raise a significant number in donations. And every year, I achieve that goal & over-exceed it. I help raise money for Sick Kids as my way of giving back & saying thank you for everything that Sick Kids did for helping my family & I with giving me my 2nd chance at living my life & I want to help other families who have children fighting for their lives, as every child deserves to live a full life & shouldn’t have to spend the first years of their lives in the hospital. I want to ensure that the struggles my family & I went through never happens to any other family.

Donations to Date:

2008 – Unknown ($1)

2009 – Unknown ($1)

2010 – 326 Balloons - $326 ($1)

2011 – 400 Balloons - $800 ($2)

2012 – 500 Balloons - $1000 ($2)

2013 –762 Balloons - $1524 ($2)

2014 – 1383 Balloons - $2766 ($2)

2015 – 2385 - $4770 ($2)

2016 – 3333 Balloons - $6666 ($2)

2017 – 5592 Balloons – 11,184 ($2)

2018 – 7320 Balloons - $14,640 ($2)