Joyce Keelan and Brooke Lax, founder of Packing a Smile are working together to do what they do best: making kids smile!
Great Pretenders and Packing a Smile are working together to send gift donations to hospitalized children across Ontario to give them a reason to smile. Their shared goal is to bring joy and inspiration to young ones, empowering them to persevere through illnesses and make a positive impact in their lives.
"I've seen the impact when I give donations directly to children and parents who video their reactions. I see that it really makes a difference & these kids are so overjoyed to be thought of when all they know is being in a hospital and it's such a challenging experience," said Lax in an interview with Great Pretenders.
When Lax was younger, she was hospitalized herself for a heart condition, called SVT. This experience further fuelled her passion to make a positive impact on the lives of hospitalized children.
"So that's when I started collecting donations, and as I say, Packing a Smile, to give them a reason to smile during their treatment," said Lax.
This June, Great Pretenders will be donating a $20 gift to Packing A Smile for every purchase made on our website. Customers can also make direct donations through the Great Pretenders website, which will be used to add even more reasons to smile to this project.
Great Pretenders hopes to gather $20,000 in product donations for Lax's organization through the month of June.
Lax also holds a Go Fund Me page where she uses the donations to buy gifts for children in hospitals.
"I [use the GoFundMe] to purchase toys, books and games, for any age group that may have not been adequately fulfilled with donations and it just really increases the number of donations I'm able to make per year," said Lax.
Are you a toy company looking to make a donation? Click here to make a direct donation or you can reach out to Brooke via email at: brooke.packingasmile@gmail.com.
