As hope grows, our children grow.

As everyone knows by now, the pandemic has been hard on teenagers’ mental health. And these uncertain circumstances have sometimes triggered an eating disorder. But what if they might also be the impetus for finding new solutions for helping out youth? That’s exactly what we are doing at Sainte-Justine, with funding from Bell Let’s Talk.

Despite everything we've been through, I know how lucky we are to have done it at Sainte-Justine, backed by teams who are as talented and hard-working as they are kind, and who give the best of themselves every day for kids. It's no wonder the reputation of these brilliant professionals is known and respected the world over.

The last few weeks of December are a time to take stock of the past year. While most of us were homebound for the better part of 2020, the opposite was true for new parents Zoey and Cody. Their first Christmas with their son, Jasper, will be spent at the Sainte-Justine ICU.

Juliette has a very rare type of epilepsy that causes her to have what are known as “gelastic” seizures. Laser neurosurgery at Sainte-Justine burned away the benign brain tumour that was the source of the problem and made daily life very difficult for her.

When the whole of Quebec hit the pause button in March 2020, the Foundation didn’t have that same luxury. In response to the crisis, an unprecedented appeal was made to the public to help Sainte-Justine. And thousands of donors heeded the call, including pediatric neurosurgeon Alexander Weil, who pledged to make a personal donation of $100,000 if 50,000 donors rallied to the cause. Today, we are proud to say: mission accomplished.

James, if someone had told me the day you were born that it would take you a year to be discharged from Sainte-Justine, I wouldn’t have believed it. Because until the third trimester of my pregnancy, it never crossed our minds that you’d arrive so quickly. It all happened in the blink of an eye.

With only two days before Giving Tuesday, the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation, campaign partners Rythme and Metro, and students from private schools across Quebec are kicking off the 13th annual Sainte-Justine Tree of Lights campaign.

Giving may be something that comes from the heart, but it might also be something that comes from the head. Today, we’d like to introduce you to one of the Foundation’s donors, who has agreed to share some of his insights into the charitable aspect of financial planning.