2012 Circle of Honour Award Winner - David and lynn coriat

Our relationship started when our daughter Jessica developed quite an affinity to Holland Bloorview, talked about the kids all the time, and encouraged us to try to support Holland Bloorview in any way we possibly could. We use the Coriat funding for many of our youth programs, specifically are mentorship program. We are just able to revive that, we haven’t been able to run our mentorship program because of lack of funding so that's really enabled us to bring youth from across the province into the organization and develop their leadership potential. The mentorship program provides young adults with an opportunity to speak to a young adult with their same disability. We were able to provide a youth is leaders forum on developing leadership skills, our life skills in transition programming, which we run year-round, and again that involves experiential learning using calculated risk taking and in a real life environment,so the children are exposed to transportation or community programs just as they would like any other child. And our BLOOM magazine BLOOM is a how-to magazine where parents can discuss the joys and challenges of parenting kids with special needs. The Coriat donation has really enabled us to take BLOOM to the next level in so many ways, it's covering the cost of our two thousand and twelve Magazines, which are mailed free of charge to parents and professionals around the world. And we've been able to develop a BLOOM speaker series, which will bring eight leading thinkers on childhood disability and parenting to our parents and staff this year. David and Lynn Coriat have brought great awareness to Holland Bloorview and the cause of childhood disability, the impact that that has on families. Their financial support has obviously made an impact, but also their ability and willingness to be able to advocate for the needs of the family and the needs for transition programs for children like Jessica, like their daughter who are transitioning into young adulthood. We’re proud to be able to provide support To Holland Bloorview and in fact to the community at large.