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Loretto woman nominated for Walmart ‘Mom of the Year’ contest – vote now!

July 18, 2013   ·   0 Comments

Helen Sykes of Loretto has been nominated by her son Wade Cumberland and Dr. Michael Weinstein of Sick Kids Hospital for the Walmart Mom of the Year Award.

This nomination touched Helen’s heart because it was made by two people who knew intimately what it was like for Helen to care for a medically fragile child but not lose focus on Wade’s needs.

When Helen received notification that she had been selected as one of the top 20 finalists she was both shocked and overjoyed.

Helen said, “The only other time that I have cried with joy was when my kids were born.  This could mean so much for children with special needs in our community. When I looked at the stories of the other moms I thought, ‘oh my goodness, there are so many incredible stories out there ‘and when I got the notification that I was selected for the top 20, I couldn’t believe it.”

“I was just so incredibly honoured and my first thought goes to the fact that there’s a possibility we can do great things with this. We have the potential to get $100,000 into this community for Jaida’s Challenge for kids with special needs and that is the absolute most important consideration for my family and I,” she added.

After her daughter Jaida’s passing in 2011, Helen and her family decided to refocus Jaida’s Challenge to help out other kids with special needs in South Simcoe.

The not-for-profit program provides a variety of support including:

• assisting families to purchase equipment that helps make their children’s day to day lives more comfortable and safe.

• funding transportation for kids that need to get to therapy but do not have any way to get where they need to be.

• assisting parents who need to attend education sessions that relate to their child’s disability. By subsidizing care for their special needs child while they are off learning what they need to know, we help them provide their child every advantage possible.

• providing funding for drug therapy not covered by OHIP.

• assisting families that find themselves in crisis in hospital by helping with sudden and unforeseen expenses.

• The equipment library has been accessed by families for specialized seating, wheelchairs and specialized tables to date. “We currently have approximately $25,000.00 worth of equipment out on loan,” said Helen.

“Jaida had such a huge impact on the community and the community was so great to her. Within days of losing Jaida we committed ourselves to Jaida’s Challenge, a charitable fund in her memory that helps kids with special needs in South Simcoe,” Helen explained. “It is a fund that has been established to improve the quality of life of kids with special needs. If a family needs something and it makes sense from the perspective of the committee [which is comprised of prominent local professionals, therapists, resource teachers, Community Living Association Personnel] then we fund it. I am in a great position to understand the needs of these special kids and the funding gaps that exist.”

The next step of the contest goes to the public, where anyone can go and vote for their Mom of the Year.

The top eight, candidates are guaranteed at least a $10,000 donation to their charity of choice (and of course for Helen that is Jaida’s Challenge) and move into consideration for the $100,000 grand prize, which also goes to their charity of choice.

If Helen receives enough votes, she is excited about what the huge influx of money into Jaida’s Challenge would do for so many kids with special needs in South Simcoe.

Her son Wade is also very excited to hear that his mom is in the running for the top eight.

“I wanted to do something for my mom after everything she did to make Jaida’s life so amazing without ever forgetting about me,” he said. “I feel like this is a great opportunity to raise money and spread awareness for Jaida’s Challenge.”

Voting is already underway and will close on August 1, but the grand prize winner will not be announced until October. Helen will need all the votes she can muster, so she encourages people to vote and help spread the word.

Voting takes less than a minute and you can vote directly on her voting page at http://www.momoftheyear.ca/mom/?mom_id=38482 or at www.momoftheyear.ca – Just look for Helen’s picture with her daughter Jaida and Dora the Explorer.

The key at this stage is to ask people to not only vote but share with their social media friends. As a community, we can make this happen.

“This is about the charity and getting this money into our community,” Helen said. “The things we could do with this money would be just incredible.”

By Jeff Doner

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