Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I find myself especially thankful this year, for my family and friends, my fantastic workmates and everyone who so enthusiastically supported September and our Childhood Cancer Awareness activities. 

It was an extremely busy month, kicking things off at the Fall Frenzy at Woodvale  Pentacostal Church for a fun filled family day.  Great seeing our families out having a great time, despite the rainy weather, and our Chair, Erin Phillips brought her family out to share in the fun too!  Thanks to Woodvale for welcoming us so warmly.  We are definitely looking forward to Christmas Eve with you!

Childhood Cancer Awareness  Day ~ Thursday September 13th 2012!  With Paige Dillabough, our September Ambassador setting up  our Inside Ride with very motivating words and a special dedication to Bryce Jude, 20 teams took part in our Inside Ride after Deputy Mayor Steve Desroches proclaimed Childhood Cancer Awareness Day in the City of Ottawa at the Ottawa Convention Centre.  What an amazing event; high energy and fast paced and just a whole lotta fun.  Check out the photos on our website!   $38,000 was raised in support of Candlelighters, something to cheer about for sure.  A great big thanks to everyone who participated and helped raise those pledges.  And a special thank you to the Ottawa Convention Centre for donating the fabulous space - the best location on the whole National Inside Ride Tour!

There is light!  The 3rd annual Where there's Light, there's Hope fundraising dinner, held at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club on September 19th was also a huge success.  We are grateful to ADGA for their sponsorship, thank you.  Our thanks also to Dale Gagnon and Josée Franche for all their time and organizing.  The room looked beautiful and it was lovely to welcome the returning guests and new ones too.  Lucas Hanneman provided live jazz music again this year.  We welcomed our newest volunteers Derek D. and Ashley B. who were amazing;  silent auction gurus those two were!  Thanks guys.  Chris and Erin Phillips were joined by Gabo and his family, together with Grace and Paige at their table for dinner.  Paige shared her amazing story of courage and inspiration.  She was fantastic and we are indeed grateful for the tremendous amount of time she (and her fabulous family) dedicated to our September activities.  Net proceeds of the evening were $32,000!  Thank you to everyone who joined us.  Pix at www.candlelighters.net

As many of you already know, CyberKids  is an invaluable program that we are so proud to offer our school age patients.  Loaning laptop computers has given these kids the tools to succeed academically when the conventional school system has just not worked out during the intense active treatment phase of childhood cancer treatment.  The eruption of social media over the past few years has only increased the benefit of having a CyberKids laptop.  Thanks to the amazing folks at Alterna Savings, Candlelighters received $43,000 in support of this program, proceeds from their annual golf tournament, which took place on September 26th.   It was once again a real pleasure for Tamsin and I to spend the day at the course with our fantastic volunteers Patti and Glenn, and to work with the group of folks at Alterna - Mike, Leo, Tammy and everyone else who worked so hard on such a successful day. 

I want to send my sincerest thanks to Jenny, (Phoebe's mom) who was the guest speaker at the dinner and who spoke so beautifully!  Thanks Jenny and thanks to everyone at Alterna  - Thank you for keeping our kids smiling!!

This past month flew by in the blink of an eye with all the activities and things that took place.  Please check out our website and see what's been going on and be sure to check back frequently to see what all is happening. 

The United Way has kicked off their annual campaign.  Did you know that you can support Candlelighters through your employee contributions to the United Way?  Its as easy as filling in our Registered Charity Number in the designated spot on your form. 

Candlelighters Registered Charity Number is 87779 6805 RR0001

Together, we can continue to make a difference in the lives of children, and their families coping with cancer.  It's easy for you to make that difference and won't take but a second - like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and share our posts and links with all your friends, families and colleagues.  Keep informed of what's going on and help us continue to have such a positive impact in the lives of kids with cancer.

Hope you have a spook-tac-ular October... Happy Hallowe'en all you goblins..... until next time....

Jocelyn