Giving Tuesday Profile: Heart Beats Children’s Society

The Tuesday after the gluttony and spending of the American Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping weekend has been christened Giving Tuesday, offering us all a chance to support those who may not have had such a joyful weekend. At Paperblanks, we take our responsibility as global citizens seriously and have partnered with a variety of charities and foundations over the years in order to give back. This Giving Tuesday, we’d like to take the opportunity to profile one such organisation.

We recently donated journals to a Canadian organisation called Heart Beats Children’s Society which has supported families affected by childhood heart disease for over twenty-five years. We were moved to support Heart Beats after connecting with a woman whose family had experienced the loss of a child suffering from congenital heart disease. She mentioned that journalling had helped her emotionally through the hard time, and that Heart Beats stepped up to support her family financially.

What Heart Beats Does

Heart Beats Children’s Society of Calgary is a grass-roots registered charitable organization that has been helping families of children with congenitial heart disease (CHD) since 1987.

Heart Beats supports families and children with heart disease in a number of ways, primarily by focussing on:

• Awareness – did you know that congential heart defects (CHD) occur in about 1 of 100 births?
• Information – via their Keeping the Beat newsletter and social media pages
• Resources – they supply equipment to the Cardiology Clinic at their local hospital, plus make valuable learning resources available to all new parents of children with CHD
• Emotional Support – Heart Beats has created a variety of programs for parents, youth and full families to come together in both formal and just-for-fun settings
• Financial Assistance – support for accommodation, gas and food costs while families travel or move to be closer to the hospital
• Partnership – partnering with pediatric cardiac care providers from other parts of Western Canada to share knowledge and expertise

How Can You Help This Giving Tuesday?

Supporting someone or a group for Giving Tuesday can mean a variety of efforts – not just giving your money, but your time, your listening ear or your support. If you are interested in learning more about Heart Beats or supporting this organisation, visit www.heartbeats.ca/you-can-help.

Become a Donor: All too often people, including small children, lose the fight with CHD (and other diseases) while waiting for an organ donation. It’s not something most people think about until something bad happens, but it’s important to have the conversation about organ donation now. Here in Canada, BeADonor.ca can give important information about how you can save a life, or lives, through donation, and similar organisations exist around the world.

To learn more about our other charity partners, please visit our Social Responsibility page.

About Paperblanks: 25 years ago, we created Paperblanks to help keep book heritage alive and vital in our modern age, and to offer an inspiring space for people to express themselves. Thanks for joining us on this journey! For more about Paperblanks, go to our website at paperblanks.com.