Sick Kids champion nears fundraising milestone
He’s a familiar face at area events. Wherever there are people, you are likely to find Raymond Hardisty soliciting donations for the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
Sick Kids is very near to Hardisty’s heart. Diagnosed with a rare blood disorder as an infant, he was treated there for a compromised immune system. From the age of five months until he was three, Hardisty had frequent hospital visits where he lay with an IV in each hand and each foot. By the time he was four, the blood disorder had evolved into leukaemia requiring chemotherapy, radiation and a splenectomy. Eventually a bone marrow donor match was found and after many weeks in isolation, Hardisty was finally released in June of 1994 in time to celebrate his fifth birthday at home. But there was one more major hurdle in store. Following the bone marrow transplant, he developed graft versus host disease.
A lesser mortal might have given up in the face of all these challenges but Hardisty is not the quitting sort. As a young man working at Dairy Queen in Stayner, he started fundraising for Sick Kids in 2008. Every visitor to the restaurant was asked to purchase a paper balloon, first for one dollar, then later for two. When he took a leave from the DQ job at the start of the pandemic, he wanted to continue fundraising so he and three friends staged a concert at the Collingwood Legion. They held bottle drives that became so successful they were picking up empties from multiple locations several times per week. Hardisty attended car shows, farmers’ markets and all sorts of social engagements walking around with his sign and collecting donations.
“The reaction is always very positive when you mention Sick Kids,” he says. “People are forever telling me stories about how their daughter or niece or grandchild was helped there. I love to hear those stories and hear how they are doing now.”
Hardisty feels a very deep, personal connection to the hospital.
“I’ve been there and I know what a great place it is and how hard all the doctors and nurses work around the clock to provide the very best care,” he said. “I know that every day there is at least one kid wondering, ‘when will this be over? When can I go home?’ That’s what keeps me going.”
In 2023, Hardisty’s cumulative fundraising total surpassed $100,000. So he decided the next target should be $200,000. He is now just $1,937 shy of that goal.
One of the major events on his fundraising calendar is an annual golf tournament at Marlwood Golf and Country Club in Wasaga Beach. In 2016, the tournament was renamed Ray’s of Light in his honour. This summer the tournament raised $12,634.
During the pandemic, Hardisty’s efforts came to the attention of the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation and they launched a special page to support him. Donations can be made at fundraise.sickkidsfoundation. com/raymondsfundraiserforsickkids.
Even with the $200,000 milestone in reach, Hardisty shows no signs of slowing down. His next goal is to round the fund up to an even quarter of a million dollars.
When he does take a break from fundraising, Hardisty would like to try his hand at acting and see if he has what it takes to make it in Hollywood. He’s not quite sure how to get started, but with his spirit and determination, who knows what he can achieve.
