PHILANTHROPY

As the leading toy and baby retailer in Canada, Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us Canada are committed to giving back to our communities. We focus our charity efforts on helping children and their families when they need us most, keeping kids safe and offering support to all children.

STARLIGHT CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION® CANADA

Making children smile. Helping families cope.

At Toys R Us Canada, we are proud to be celebrating our 25th year of partnership with Starlight Children’s Foundation^® Canada!

Starlight Canada does what no medicine can do: create priceless smiles and memories for seriously ill children and their families. For over 30 years, Starlight Canada has been spreading joy to sick kids across the country through a unique blend of hospital to home programs designed for the whole family.

While in-hospital, Starlight Canada offers distraction, relief, and fun for hospitalized kids or teens who may be nervously awaiting treatment, recovering from surgery, or feeling lonely in their rooms. From activity kits to interactive gaming stations, Starlight Canada creates comfort and joy in-hospital to help support every kid through their stay!

Starlight Canada’s out-of-hospital wish programs grant wishes of all sizes to give seriously ill children and their families a reason to smile and special memories to hold on to. Whether they are wishing for a simple night out with a loved one or dreaming big with an ultimate wish of a lifetime, Starlight Canada creates magic where kids can shine even when sick.

HOW WE HELP

In our 25-year partnership, Toys"R"Us Canada has raised over $28 million for Starlight Children’s Foundation^® Canada.

We are honoured to have raised over $28 million for Starlight Canada through fundraising, auctions, events, raffles, and more, thanks to the tremendous efforts of our valued team members, customers and vendors!

In these 25 years, we have supported thousands of families with seriously ill children across Canada – from hospital to home. Whether it’s sponsoring relaxing boat rides through their Great Escapes^® Wishes program, providing hospitalized children with Comfort Kits™ to help them through their stay, or hosting VIP shopping experiences for sick kids, Toys“R”Us Canada is committed to spreading the power of play to families in need of a smile. Here are just some of the ways we are giving back with Starlight Canada in our communities:

When a child lives with a medical condition, it can often be difficult to find quality time with family. As National Sponsors of Starlight Canada’s Great Escapes Wishes, we’re making sure every child gets to experience adventure – no matter their age, diagnosis, or ability. Starlight Great Escapes Wishes bring families together to help make up for some lost time by creating fun-filled events for new memories and new friendships. These events include driving in exotic cars, movie screenings, harbour cruises, adapted skiing, holiday parties, sleepovers, and more. After a day spent with people who all truly understand one another, sick children are sure to go home with a renewed sense of strength and hope. Packed with puzzles, games, and toys to entertain all ages, Starlight Treasure Chests make sure pediatric patients always have a distraction from the stress of treatment or the boredom of waiting for their next appointment. Sponsored by Toys“R”Us Canada and shipped across the country, these pick-me-ups provide positive reinforcement after difficult treatments and procedures to help ease the process for both families and hospital staff. Designed for babies to teens to parents, Toys“R”Us Canada helps place Starlight Comfort Kits in hospitals across Canada. These kits offer comfort, distraction and entertainment for the whole family and bring a little bit of softness to a stressful situation. Since many seriously ill kids cannot share toys in-hospital due to infection control, Starlight Comfort Kits are especially important to keep spirits high and ease social interactions with hospital staff. Sometimes a smile can be the best medicine of all! Through the years, Toys“R”Us Canada continues to open our doors to create unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences for seriously ill children in our stores across the country. Through hosting private holiday parties and providing exciting shopping sprees, we encourage Starlight families to find their imagination again. After picking out all the toys they could dream of, sick kids and their families not only leave with full shopping carts, but with full hearts. Across the country, 81 Toys“R”Us Canada stores were visited in 2022 by their local hospital to accept a $2,000 donation to benefit pediatric patients within their communities. Whether these generous grants will be used for music therapy or distractive toys, the donations will go towards supporting the immediate needs of hospitals and will go a long way in helping children find a piece of relief during stressful hospital stays. Toys“R”Us Canada knows the power of play. Designed for children who may be isolated due to their illness, Starlight Canada’s Play From Home Packs filled with board games, crafts, toys, and countless other interactive activities are safely shipped to a family’s doorstep. As proud National Sponsors of the program, each new gift delivered allows for a new opportunity to explore and play, helping relieve some of their boredom and fear while stuck in isolation. Every year, Toys“R”Us Canada and Starlight Canada come together to help a seriously ill child create their very own unique bear, from the ears all the way to the paws. In 2022, the 14^th Anniversary Collectible Starlight Bear^®, Sunshine, was designed by 5-year-old Noah, who was diagnosed with several congenital heart defects (CHDs) before she was even born.

Sunshine was inspired by Noah’s radiant personality, much like the sun! The purple bow and paw accents symbolize her favourite colour, and even match Noah’s speaking valve on her trachea!

When we give back to kids, we are at our best!

To learn more, or to donate, visit the Starlight Children’s Foundation^® Canada website at https://www.starlightcanada.org/.

Community Involvement

It is our goal to provide support to children in need.

We also donate baby products to local women’s shelters and are proud supporters of other child-focused charities in the communities we serve.

Keeping Kids Safe

We know that a child’s safety is a parent’s #1 priority. It’s ours, too.

Our commitment to the safety of babies and children is non-negotiable. As such, one of the core charitable goals of Toys“R”Us Canada is to keep kids safe, both in the products we sell and those we donate.

Please visit our Product Safety page for more information on what we’re doing to keep kids safe.

"R" Team Members Give Back

We are very proud that our team members across the country share in our Company’s charitable goals of keeping children safe and helping them in times of need.

IN-STORE CAMPAIGNS

During our annual fundraising campaigns for Starlight Children’s Foundation^®, our team members donate their time and energy to raising funds in our stores.

HEAD OFFICE AND DISTRIBUTION CENTRE FUNDRAISING

Our Head Office and Distribution Centre team members do their part for charity by organizing and participating in raffles, auctions, bake sales, gift wrapping events and other creative endeavours to support our charities.