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The
Toronto Argonauts would like to congratulate twelve-year-old Stefon
Beckles on exceeding his goal of raising $800 to donate to SickKids
Hospital. On Tuesday, he officially handed over a cheque in the amount
of $1,208.67 to representatives from SickKids.
The
money was raised throughout the summer at his lemonade stand in
Mississauga, at his church, during Argos practices and even from fans
at an Argos game. The entire Beckles family including mom Sandra,
brother Ricardo (who also played linebacker and fullback for the
Etobicoke Eagles last season) and sister Alysha helped Stefon reach his
goal.
The
journey started a few years ago when young Stefon lived with his family
in Montreal. Inspired by a classmate who had been admitted to Montreal
Children’s Hospital, he raced to his mother and excitedly said, ‘Mom, I
want to help the kids’. Unsure of which ‘kids’ her eager son was
referring to, Sandra responded, ‘what kids?’. Ricardo and Stefon teamed
up and began selling lemonade on the street corner with a goal of
raising $800. With the support of the community, his school and the
church, he was able to exceed his goal and eventually donated the
entire amount to the hospital.
The
Beckles family moved to Toronto at the end of 2006, and it didn’t take
long for Stefon to realize there was also a children’s hospital here –
SickKids. Once again, Stefon enlisted the help of his family and set
out to raise a minimum of $800. He and his brother stood on the
sidewalk and sold as much lemonade as they could stock. Twice, they
climbed onto a city bus, supplies and all, and made their way to an
Argos practice where they offered their specially brewed lemonade to
the players. On September 23rd, the Argos invited the
Beckles family to the home game themed ‘SickKids Day’ where they set up
their stand during the pre-game Streetfest and enthusiastic fans gladly
purchased cup after cup.
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Stefon’s
church, Grace Mount Zion Apostolic in Mississauga, was instrumental in
achieving the goal and Pastor Rodwell Anderson was on hand at SickKids
to help hand over the cheque. The Pastor conveyed the sentiment offered
by the church’s members, “Stefon is a very humble, dedicated, devoted
and disciplined young man and we are extremely proud of him. The church
is behind Stefon 100%. When we consider the many negative things that
are happening in our communities, it is refreshing to vigorously
promote the positive things like this.”
Congratulations Stefon and the entire Beckles family!