Bowmore Road school students help raise more than $36,000 for Holland Bloorview’s Capes for Kids campaign

By KAT BERGERON

Kindergarten students at Bowmore Road Junior and Senior Public School have raised more than $36,000 for Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital’s Capes for Kids campaign.

The previous goal for the campaign was set at $35,000, but extended once the community surpassed this amount. The campaign, which ran until the end of March, raised $36,798.88.

“Our class has loved being involved with such an amazing initiative. We have several children in our kindergarten class who go to Holland Bloorview and are Capes for Kids ambassadors,” said Bowmore kindergarten teacher Nellie Hollywood in a statement to Beach Metro Community News.

“Our class decided to take this challenge on and see how much money we could raise for such an amazing foundation. Our class loved supporting their peers who attend Holland Bloorview. We started off the fundraising in our classroom with our classroom families to spread the word. We then decided to put it out to the school as a whole school initiative.”

The class fundraising campaign began with kindergarten students Oliver and Shayna who are ambassadors to Holland Bloorview themselves. The campaign then went on to become school-wide team effort.

Some of the fundraising initiatives at the school included a superhero workout day in capes, a cape decorating day and a parade of capes.

“Even small superheroes can make a big difference, and there’s different ways to be a superhero. And I think the theme of the superheroes, with the accessibility and inclusion, really resonated with the kids and with the whole school,” said Bowmore parent Stephanie Charal.

The Bowmore Team was in the Top 10 out of all fundraiser groups for the Holland Bloorview Capes for Kids campaign, according to the online leaderboard.

“(The leaderboard is) just a way for people to see how they’re doing against other fundraisers and other teams. People like a little bit of healthy competition and especially within a whole range of corporate teams that fundraise for us, and they really do like to compete against each other, which is really great,” said Holland Bloorview Foundation Vice-President of Strategy and Public Engagement Ashleigh Saith.

The annual Capes for Kids campaign officially began on March 6, aiming to raise $1 million for Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and The Bloorview Research Institute.

“They fundraise and wear a cape everywhere they go for a week every March, and we have a whole slew of community members who support us and have seen schools like Bowmore participate this year. It’s fully accessible and kids with disabilities are able to participate no matter what. So it’s not like a walk or a run, where you have to have a certain physical ability,” said Saith of the fundraising campaign.

Capes for Kids has raised about $7.7 million since it began in 2017, supporting research into childhood disability and developmental differences, as well as programs to help children live better through movement, speech, play and healing.

While Capes for Kids is a fundraiser across Canada for the Toronto research hospital, the Bowmore students were focused on what the hospital means to their community.

For info on the Bowmore School Team’s fundraiser page, please go to https://fundraise.capesforkids.ca/cfk2026/team-bowmore-

To learn more about Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, please go to https://hollandbloorview.ca/

To learn more about the Bloorview Research Institute, please go to https://hollandbloorview.ca/research-education/bloorview-research-institute/about-the-bloorview-research-institute