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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 30, 2008 - 17 Huggable Jack and his Lemonade Stand at Longo's Saturday Young Oakville resident Jack Yeilding is as huggable as a Build a Bear Workshop bear and does just as much, and more, for kids as the popular bears. So it's fitting the two have come together in the 2008 Huggable Heroes program. It's even more fitting that the five-year-old Jack is one of an elite group of 32 young people from around the world being honoured by Build-ABear Workshop for demonstrating strong leadership, dedication and compassion to make positive strides in the world, according to a release issued by Build A Bear Workshop. The young boy with intractable epilepsy, last year, took to a lemonade stand he built with his dad, to raise money for Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Experiencing his first seizure, followed by diagnosis at age two-and-a-half, Jack has had first-hand knowledge of ambulance rides, Sick Children's Hospital and many visits to doctors. With his lemonade stand, he had hoped to raise $1,000. Community response was such that his lemonade stand was visited by friends, family, neighbours and residents, as well as emergency services personnel, even Mayor Rob Burton. Jack raised a whopping $14,000. Now, Jack has been named a finalist in Build-A-Bear Workshop's fifth annual International Community Service Award Program in the 2008 Huggable Heroes search. Jack is being recognized for his fundraising efforts to support the Hospital for Sick form Make Lemonade, a new song to celebrate and support Jack's work. As a Huggable Hero finalist, Jack joins a group of young leaders who, like himself, have made a difference. Other Canadian finalists' causes include: BC Children's Hospital, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Breast Cancer Research and Hospital for Sick Children. From the 32 Finalists, 12 will be named as Huggable Heroes. This select group will meet in July in Washington, D.C. to participate in a leadership symposium and be honoured at special ceremonies. In addition, each of the 12 Huggable Heroes will receive $10,000 US in the form of an educational scholarship and $2,500 US from the Build-ABear Workshop Foundation to be donated to the charity of the hero's choice. They also will be featured in the 2009 Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes calendar. In celebration of the fifth year of the Huggable Heroes program, the special trip to Washington, D.C., will also reunite all of the individual Huggable Heroes from the previous years. From December 7, 2007, through February 8, 2008, Build-A-Bear Workshop accepted nominations for Huggable Heroes. Young people were nominated for their volunteer and community service efforts. Nominations were narrowed to 120 semi-finalists, then 32 finalists will be named. The finalists will again be narrowed down to determine the 12 Huggable Heroes. Jack Yeilding Children (SickKids). Coping with severe epilepsy, Jack wanted to help his friends at the hospital get better, so one cup at a time he raised money with his lemonade stand. He raised an additional $12,000 for children's services at Epilepsy Toronto hosting "Jack's Lemonade" stand. He has also inspired local schools to host lemonade stands for SickKids and hopes to raise $50,000 in 2008. According to Jack's mom, Jodi, Jack was to be featured on Global Television this week and is already preparing to host his lemonade stand in Oakville again on Saturday, May 24 and has $15,000 in committed sponsorship. This Saturday, May 3, Jack's Lemonade Stand and the Oakville Children's Choir will team up at Longo's new flagship store at Burloak, at 3455 Wyecroft Rd. to raise funds for the Hospital for Sick Kids, according to a release from Longo's. Jack and his lemonade stand will be there making lemonade from lemons between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the children's choir will per- Be an ASSOCIATE / FAMILY HOME PROVIDER Open your heart and home to a person who has a developmental disability The Associate/ Family Home Program is a community living alternative where children and adults with a developmental disability live on a full-time basis with families and participate in all aspects of family life. We are currently recruiting families or individuals who are interested in becoming an Associate/ Family Home Provider. We are looking for caring families or individuals who are committed and interested in sharing their home and providing support to a child or adult who has a developmental disability. We are also recruiting Respite Providers. We are looking for families or individuals to provide short term relief to our Associate/ Family Home Providers. Respite Providers support a child or adult by establishing connections with them and providing a consistent home for them to go to on occasional weekends or longer periods of time. Interested families or individuals must live in the Halton Region and be able to provide a safe, supportive environment while fostering community connections and providing opportunities for growth and independence. We offer support, training and supervision as well as financial remuneration. For details call or email Robyn Suzuki 905.336.2225 ext. 249 associatefamilyhome@clburlington.ca Established in 1955, Community Living Burlington is Burlington's oldest & largest non-profit charitable organization. For over 50 years, we have dedicated ourselves to enriching the quality of life, development, and community integration of individuals with developmental disabilities.