Making dreams come true

Making dreams come true
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published June 4, 2003

The sun will be out at Burnaby Lake this weekend _ and that's a guarantee, regardless of the weather.

The Sunshine Foundation for Children's Dreams is holding its annual Sunshine Walk for Dreams to help make life more enjoyable for children with severe physical disabilities or life-threatening illness.

"The walk is great," says Tracy Cruden, the manager of the Pennington's Store on North Road who is hoping to be able to join Sunday's 10-kilometre Walk for Children's Dreams.

"With my schedule, it's really difficult to volunteer for good causes, but I really wanted to get involved in something that was worthwhile," says the 25-year-old Vancouver resident.

Last year, in her first venture on the Walk for Children's Dreams, Tracy, her friends and co-workers raised almost $2,000 for the foundation that sends children on 'Dreamlift Vacations' or buys special equipment to make their young lives more enjoyable.

"It's a lot of fun," Tracy says. "My friends and I are on this health kick, so the walk is really good for us, too."

She also says raising money for a good cause is easy. "Most of the people in our group raised $100 or more by getting all the people who weren't walking to sponsor us," she says. "All I had to do was explain what the walk is about and that it's for kids and as soon as you say it's for kids, most people say 'here you go.'

"Even if they couldn't afford to give a lot, most people gave something."

Over the past several years, the Sunshine Foundation for Children's Dreams has assisted young children from Burnaby in a variety of ways.

In 2001, the Foundation sent 70 young children from across Canada, including two from Burnaby, on a day-long Dreamlift to Disneyland with an escort of police officers, sheriffs, parents and Burnaby NOW reporter John Knox.

The local children who made that trip were Brian Daniels-Scott, who has Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy, and Sayna Rahbari, who has neuroblastoma, a cancer that affects her adrenal glands.

This year, the Sunshine Foundation bought a wheelchair specially designed to play basketball for Cariboo Hill student Sunera Samarakoon.

Some of many Lower Mainland children who benefit directly from the foundation's work will be at Sunday's walk, where they will also take part in the post-walk carnival.

In addition to a barbecue that will be serving hot dogs and hamburgers to the registered walkers, the carnival will include games and activities for the kids, the White Spot Pipe Band and mascots from the corporate sponsors, which include Radio Shack and the Burnaby NOW.

While the walk has been held across Canada for many years, it had been a relatively small affair in British Columbia until three years ago, when responsiblity for organziing the event fell to the new chapter president, Burnaby RCMP Staff Sgt. Daryl Stone, the officer in charge of the northeast community police station, located at Lougheed Mall.

Advance registration is possible by calling the Sunshine Foundation offices at 1-800-461-7935 or by visiting the Web site at www.sunshine.ca.

It's also possible to join in simply by showing up on the morning of the walk. Registration tables will be open at the Burnaby Lake Pavilion, at the foot of Roberts Street, just northeast of the intersection of Sperling and Sprott.