Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2018 holiday events! By taking part, you’re helping us help Island kids access the health care they need, when they need it most.

Getting into the holiday spirit at Hotel Grand Pacific

Here at Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island, we’ve been in the holiday spirit for a while now! Our holiday events at Hotel Grand Pacific kicked off on December 1, and for the next three Saturdays in December, people of all ages stopped by our festively decorated spot in the hotel to have their photo taken with Santa Fred. (Our team believes there’s no doubt at all: Santa Fred is the real Santa!)

We saw couples, kids of all ages, families, mother-daughter pairs, and guests of the hotel all stop by to offer a donation and snap a photo with Santa. Some visitors also treated themselves cookies and cocoa, available by donation in the Hotel Grand Pacific lobby. Those treats were made extra festive by the four talented carollers from the Canadian College of Performing Arts, who were dressed in Victorian garb and filled the air with traditional holiday songs. They helped get everyone who walked by get into the holiday spirit!

Brunching with Santa Fred

On Sunday, December 16, we held our annual, very-popular ‘Pancakes in pajamas with Santa’ event at the Hotel Grand Pacific. At 10 am, 140 people gathered, ready for a morning with Santa Fred. As well as enjoying the incredible brunch food prepared by Hotel Grand Pacific, attendees got into the holiday spirit as they took photos with Santa Fred, made Christmas crafts, and decorated gingerbread men.

While the adults generously bid on the silent auction items and bought raffle tickets in an effort to win amazing prizes, Santa Fred gathered the kids together and read a well-loved holiday story to them all. He chose to read ‘The Night Before Christmas’ – a great choice!

Thank you to all who attended our event. We hope to see you next year!

It’s not over yet!

While our photos with Santa are over for the year, we are still running a few festive activities at Hotel Grand Pacific. Stop by the Hotel Grand Pacific’s Pacific Dining Room and Lounge any time between 10 am and 5 pm for some holiday cookies and cocoa – this is by donation, and the proceeds help us help Island kids access the health care they need. The cookies and cocoa by donation continues until December 27.

You can also still enter to win our raffle! Enter before December 27 for a chance to win WestJet tickets or a two-night stay package at Hotel Grand Pacific. Find the raffle in the Hotel Grand Pacific lobby.

And there’s still festive fun for the kids, too! Our holiday colouring contest for kids is still up and running. Stop by the Hotel Grand Pacific lobby to pick up a sheet, and make sure the kids enter their masterpieces before December 25.

We’ll be announcing the grand total that all these events raised for Island kids and families in 2019. Thanks for everyone’s generous support this season!

 

See more photos from the events

Find all the photos taken by our fabulous volunteers on our Flickr account. More photos with Santa, and photos from our ‘Pancakes in pajamas with Santa’ event, will be added soon.

 

You can also support Island kids this season by donating to our Kids First Fund. 

Thank you to our sponsors: