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PHOTOS | VIDEO | ‘BIG KISS’ FUND
At an announcement at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in downtown Toronto today, the ‘Kissing Bandit’, Adriano Belli, puckered-up and gave a big, wet holiday-size kiss to SickKids Foundation.
Belli remarked, “Working with SickKids has always been a big part of my career. In all the cities I’ve played – from Las Vegas to Montreal, New York to Atlanta and the past two seasons with Toronto – I’ve been able to spend time with these youngsters and they have truly inspired me, both on and off the field. Since moving back to my hometown of Toronto, I’ve always believed it would be a great fit to start something fulltime with our own local children’s hospital. I’d like to thank SickKids Hospital, my teammates and the many CFL fans who have made this possible; all for the kids.“
In time for the holidays, Belli, together with Argonauts fans, donated $5,000 cash, $5,000 worth of custom-made jersey’s, and a sleigh full of toys to the Foundation. The toys will be distributed by the hospital, and the custom jersey’s have been handed to more than 100 sick kids throughout the year. Also, during the 2008 season Belli donated a special SickKids suite at each of nine Argonauts home games. More than 60 kids and their families were able to watch Belli and his teammates take on the rest of the CFL live at Rogers Centre. To date, more than $12,000 has been raised by the Big Kiss Fund in cash and services in kind.
Penny Kroll of SickKids Foundation enthused, “We’re extremely grateful to Adriano for his generous support. This donation will allow SickKids to continue its efforts as a world leader in children’s health and help many children in Toronto and around the world. It’s great that Adriano also understands the importance of treating children at the hospital not only medically, but emotionally as well. This sleigh full of toys will help bring smiles to the faces of many kids who are not able to spend the holidays with their families at home.”
Inspired by his work with “Big Men, Big Hearts”, in 2008 nose tackle Adriano Belli also reached out to SickKids Foundation by spearheading his own efforts aimed at helping the kids in a variety of ways. Nicknamed “the Kissing Bandit”, Belli started the aptly-named “Big Kiss Fund”, where he approaches companies to make donations to SickKids Foundation for every sack or tackle he makes during the year.
Belli committed fully to his cause by singing a classic rendition of the national anthem at the Argos SickKids Game Day on October 3. The gregarious defensive tackle also appeared on the 2008 version of CTV’s Canadian Idol. For his efforts, Canadian Idol made a donation in Belli’s honour to SickKids Foundation.