Canvassers hope to raise $55,000 for children’s care services by December 20
On Nov. 20, International Children’s Rights Day, the Centre de pédiatrie sociale Laval launched its annual fundraising campaign, which will run until December 20.
The Centre de Pédiatrie Sociale Laval is a non-profit organization that provides activities and care to children in its community. The Centre contributes to the overall development of children and adolescents with developmental, social or health problems in disadvantaged areas.
Vulnerable clientele
The centre also promotes the interests and rights of children and their families. Its mandate is to offer, in a living environment integrated into the community, interdisciplinary health services to a vulnerable clientele that finds itself sometimes excluded from the current service network.
Over the next month, the organization will solicit the Laval population in various ways to raise $55,000, which will be used to provide medical and psychosocial care to children in vulnerable situations.
Children’s rights
“All children have the right to grow up healthy, the centre’s supporters maintain, saying that children’s rights are at the heart of the Centre de pédiatrie sociale Laval’s mission.
“All children have the fundamental right to access care adapted to their needs,” explains Mylène Du Bois, executive director. “Our work with young people in Laval aims to offer them every possible opportunity to develop to their full potential.
“Our workers target the children’s most pressing needs, and we invest the money received from our valued donors to provide them with personalized services such as medical care, psycho-education, speech therapy and music therapy,” added Du Bois.
Adapted and essential care
Since 2011, the organization has been offering multidisciplinary health services in a community-based environment to a vulnerable clientele that isn’t adequately dealt with by the current service network.
To date, according to the centre, interventions by the dedicated team have had a direct impact on more than 2,000 families living in precarious and disadvantaged conditions.
“For the young people we work with, the Centre de pédiatrie sociale is a space where they can talk freely, without judgment and in complete confidentiality,” said the organization’s clinical coordinator, Laurence Cadieux.
“Our team welcomes them with kindness and creates a safety net for each of them. Often, a child comes to the Centre spontaneously to confide in us about a success, a difficulty or a feeling they have.”
Many ways to support
Laval residents are known to be generous when it comes to the children in the community. “It’s wonderful to see that children are a priority for the people of Laval,” said Me Jean Marius Mottet, founding president of the Centre de pédiatrie sociale Laval. “As caring adults, it is our duty to ensure that the rights of children are respected. Their development depends on it.”
As the drive is underway, it is possible to make a donation online at cpslaval.org to support the organization. In addition, the centre’s team and volunteers will be in the four corners of Laval on November 25 and 26 to collect donations from Laval residents.
How to donate You can find them at the corners of Jean-Béraud/Daniel-Johnson and Notre-Dame/Lavatère streets; at Laval’s Metro stations; at Toys R Us in Laval; and at Canadian Tire Vimont and Fabreville. “We are fortunate to be part of a caring Laval community that takes care of its children. It is the future of our society that is at stake,” added Me Mottet.
