DONOR Bill Holland & family
TITLE Executive chairman, CI Financial Income Fund
GIFT $26.2 million to the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
One of the questions Bill Holland is often asked whenever the subject of his $26.2 million donation to the Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and its foundation comes up is whether he has a personal connection to the facility.
It’s a fair question.The executive chairman of CI Financial Income Fund is the father of two teenagers, so it’s reasonable to think he might have a more heartfelt motivation for giving to the children’s hospital than merely a desire to help a worthy cause.
Holland and his family’s gift was the single largest gift ever given to a Canadian hospital specializing in the treatment and research of children’s disabilities. It also led to the hospital being renamed as Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.
Holland says he didn’t know anybody at the hospital, then corrects himself.“Actually, that’s not really true.
I just didn’t realize how many people I knew who have taken their kids there for treatment, close friends some of them, and I had no idea until I became involved.”
As he talks, Holland becomes emotional about his experiences working with Holland Bloorview.
He recalls the first time he visited the hospital with his wife, Susanne, and daughter,Kate, who was just six years old at the time.
“What struck me is how lucky I am to be healthy, that my family is healthy,”he says.
“When you see people struggle to move even a few feet in a single day, it stops you cold, especially when they’re kids. It breaks your heart. But what surprised me is that the children were all incredibly happy, cheerful kids; the staff and volunteers were all wonderful; and everyone was so upbeat. I also know that it deeply affected my daughter. It’s a humbling thing for kids to see other kids in that situation. Afterwards, when I asked her how much I should give to the hospital, she said not all my money but half would be good.”
Located near Bayview Avenue and Eglinton Avenue,“right in my own backyard,”says Holland, Holland Bloorview is Canada’s largest children’s rehab hospital.
Each year, about 7,000 children from across Ontario and beyond come through its doors seeking a better life.
According to Holland Bloorview’s president and CEO, Sheila Jarvis, the Hollands’gift will allow the centre to continue the pioneering work in innovative treatments and technologies and to “recruit worldclass physicians, therapists and scientists, with an initial focus in the area of children’s brain injury,”Jarvis says.
“It will also fund a family leadership program that will see parents and youth work alongside clinicians to improve hospital care, train future health care professionals and support families.”
