Trek up Mount Royal, fundraiser to show support for parents of kids with disabilities

A symbolic event at Montreal’s Mount Royal on Sunday was about showing how challenging life can be sometimes raising children with disabilities.

It was also an opportunity for parents to connect, while raising funds for a good cause.

The group of parents and their children – most were in wheelchairs – climbed the mountain together during the second edition of Philou’s Great Ascent.

The fundraising event was organized by Centre Philou, an organization that provides services for children with disabilities. More specifically, the fundraiser was created by the group’s youth committee, the “PHILOUthropes.”

For parent Ann Gagnon, it was extremely important to be there Sunday morning.

“It’s the camaraderie between all of the parents and all of the ‘PHILOUthropes’ from Centre Philou,” said Gagnon. “We’re busy with our kids on a day-to-day basis, so we don’t always have time to do fundraising individually. So this really helps us.”

Ann Gagnon and her family at Philou’s Great Ascent in Montreal on Sept. 18, 2022. (Credit: CityNews/Pamela Pagano)

Volunteers pushed the children’s wheelchairs up the trail. The goal: to get a sense of the challenges parents have to push through every day.

“As you can see, it’s a pretty good challenge to roll the chair up hill,” said volunteer Cynthia Giroux. “So you can just think about the families that are experiencing this on a daily basis. It’s quite hard.”

Providing continuous support and services to poly-impaired children and their families, the Centre Philou was created in 2005.

“To be here today is quite amazing because it’s not a very nice day. It’s starting to rain,” said Diane Chênevert, Centre Philou’s founder and executive director. “And our children and their parents have said, ‘we’ve seen other stuff in our life, other extraordinary stuff. And we’re going to just say, well, rain or shine, we’ll be there and we’re going to be supporting the Jeunes PHILOUtropes.’”

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Funds raised – about $30,000 – will go towards the Centre Philou’s “Respite” program.

That program allows parents to drop off their kids, where they will be cared for wholeheartedly for a period of time. That, in turn, gives the parents a chance to decompress.

It’s where Gagnon drops off her two sons: Bradley, 24, and Kieran, 19.

“From Thursday after school till Sunday afternoon, they will sleep over there,” said Gagnon. “I’m very fortunate because both boys go at the same time. On average, we usually sleep a good 10 to 12 hours the first night when they’re gone, and then the following day we’ll try to reconnect as a couple.

“I love my boys. But Centre Philou has really helped me be a better mother.”