Montrealers give back with annual toy drive at Shriners Hospital

Montrealers Paolo Bastone and Giovanni Anthony Bellezza, co-founded the MIND Foundation Canada, a charity organization focusing on raising funds and awareness for neurological diseases and disorders.

“The MIND Foundation started in 2019. The reason we started the foundation was because Paolo and I both lost our grandparents to Alzheimer’s, and this was our way to fight back,” said Bellezza.

This holiday season, they organized their third annual holiday toy drive for children at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada.

On Thursday, they spent the day at the hospital handing out toys and putting smiles on children’s faces.

“We had a really close relationship with the team, and we really wanted to give back to all the kids who were at the Shriners,” said Bellezza.

Adam Le also plays a big part in The MIND Foundation Canada, serving as the vice president.

“In terms of why I wanted to start maybe being a part of this initiative, seeing the impact that they had and the impact that this organization has had over the years has been really amazing,” said Le.

The foundation is focused on the theme of mental health.

“The Shriners Hospital is really focused directly on mental health. But, of course, during the holiday season, when you come in for appointments, it’s a lot of stress for the parents and the patients themselves. So, we hope that giving them the toys will help alleviate some of that anxiety,” said Bastone.

At the drive, there were gifts for all ages. Patients aged 21 and under were able to choose a toy or gift card. Gas cards were also given to help out parents.

Free yoga sessions at IDOLEM were also offered.

“We want to take the initiative to give back to the parents. I mean, the MIND Foundation is giving back to the children, which is great, but I think as a family, as a whole, when a child is going through something, the whole family goes through it. So, we wanted to give back to the parents as well,” said Loredana Festa, IDOLEM Centropolis.

In addition to toys, donations allowed them to purchase iPads and virtual reality headsets for patients at the hospital to help improve their experience.

“We’re incredibly excited to have received such a generous donation. Here at the Shriners, dating back about six or seven years ago, we embarked on the process of figuring out how to bring virtual reality into practice to help distract the children while they’re undergoing painful or anxiety-provoking medical procedures. So, the gift today actually allows us to augment our capacity to bring virtual reality throughout the hospital for the children who are undergoing these procedures,” said Argerie Tsimicalis, nurse scientist at Shriners Hospital for Children.

“With the toys and everything, and the VR headsets, we raised about $5,500, and that’s $3,500 more than last year, so it’s pretty cool,” said Bastone.

“It’s super heartwarming. We love to see all the kids. We love to make them smile during the holidays. And also, it just makes us happy to spread the joy,” said Bellezza.