We were super excited to be able to choose the charity for this year’s tournament. Our choice, in memory of my nephew Elgin, we chose the Therapeutic Clown Program at CHEO. Golf tournaments are fun to plan but getting to plan it with a clown theme is even better! My favorite part was definitely the clown noses and the effort the teams put into dressing up for the event.
This year’s tournament was held at Metcalfe Golf and Country Club. I can’t say enough about Rob and the team at Metcalfe. They are so incredible to work with.
Again this year we had great sponsors and supporters. Events like this could never happen without all the extra support.
The Therapeutic Clown program at CHEO – better known to all of us Mollypenny:
“A member of the Child Life Specialists’ team, Mollypenny works as a Therapeutic Clown to assist children, youth and their families cope with the stress of illness, injury and having to stay in the hospital.
This program has been in existence since September 2001, and although it was originally funded by Therapeutic Clowns of Canada, it is now funded by anonymous donors.
Laughter and play are important aspects of physical, social and emotional development and recovery. Children who face health altering challenges respond to opportunities that create an environment of playfulness and moments that alter the sterile view of the hospital.
Therefore, Mollypenny’s primary goals are to:
- Empower the child and create an atmosphere of fun for patients, family and staff.
- Offer moral support
- Normalize the hospital environment.
- Assist in distraction and offer procedural support, when appropriate.
- Find humor in a situation and encourage it.
- Recruit new trainees for Kid Clown School (KCS), where I take a child along with me to do my rounds and train him or her to be a clown for a day, costume and all. (Note: CHEO is the only hospital in Canada to have a “Kid Clown School”).
Room to room, visits provide healing laughter, a caring attitude, respect, encouragement, comedy, a little magic and red nose transplants! It is not necessarily about the traditional tricks of the trade such as fancy magic tools, but rather the energies that we all possess inside us like listening, intuition, sensitivity, emotional creativity, and more.
In her previous career, Mollypenny was a nurse who worked in the operating room (OR). She now works as a Therapeutic Clown, every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.”
Thank you to our Photography Partner: BH Photography
