Saturday 26 April 2008

Time goes quickly...

At the house I don't think I have ever had a shift drag...I am always surprised that the shift is over. This is not to say that we have endless amounts of fun and energy to do amazing things all of the time...but for me time at the house passes quickly.

Normally when the evening shift begins we go and round up the kids from the afternoon shift volunteers who are usually bringing them down to dinner or to the kids floor. I went upstairs to check in with the nurses on the kids floor and then up to the classroom where a I found Shannah and Corrine. It appeared that Corrine did not want to make her way down to dinner as she was fully involved in a computer game about Tigger finding hunney for Winnie the Pooh.
I ran down and picked up a plate of dinner and made my way uptairs.
The game is called Tigger's Hunny Hunt and was actually a fun game. I was needed to help Tigger fly by using the space bar. Corrine did all of the rest and we ended up being a pretty great team!

Also in the house tonight were Jaxson and Galen. Jaxson can be seen putting the boots to Roberto Luongo in this video:

Jaxson and Luongo


There were also a few siblings and parents in the house and everyone seemed pretty happy and calm. It has been a tough couple of weeks at the house with a couple kids passing on. The house is built for this and always looks after the things that need looking after.
Here is a bit of an email from our volunteer coordinator Leanne Freeman quoting Filomena:

On a final note, we have had another busy week here at Canuck Place. In
the words of the Canuck Place CEO Filomena Nalewajek - “ This week we
witnessed the "symphony" that silently embraces that care and resonates at
decibels beyond our ability to simply hear. Staff quietly lending a hand,
without being asked; instinctively knowing what is needed: volunteers
helping staff engaging children in play so they would not witness the raw
pain of parents saying goodbye to their lifeless child; staff there to
support and hold together parents in pain, whatever it took to
respond,give,care. The harmony was there, and in that very sad music was
a sense that the world goes on.”

This house is beautiful.

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The Blog

My name is Malcolm and I was a volunteer at Canuck Place Children's Hospice in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for nearly seven years. Now I support them by raising money by participating in the Canuck Place Adventure Challenges!


I said hospice. Not really a word that you associate with children but there you go. We will tell you about the house as this blog progresses with the hope that you will learn, and as you learn we hope that you will share. The purpose of the Adventure Challenge is to raise money for AND awareness about Canuck Place.

The name of each kid at the house you read about has been changed.

September 14th and 15th are the dates for the next Adventure Challenges.

You can sponsor me for the race here: Adventure Challenge
Maybe you should do the race?

Names:

Just a quick note about the names of the kids in the house that you will read about: they are made up!