'Different ways they can support': Dream Book gives Manitobans the chance to make kids' dreams come true

The Dream Factory has launched its annual holiday campaign, offering Manitobans the chance to sponsor a dream for a child facing a life-threatening illness.

The 2023 Dream Book is now online at thedreamfactory.ca. Fundraising and marketing manager Karly Tardiff says the website shows a number of different children's dreams available for sponsorship.

"Some of the really popular ones are vacations, Disney, sports dreams," Tardiff said. "So on the pages, there's just breakdowns of different dreams, you get to meet some of the dream kids and kind of what goes into these dreams and how much it costs."

Prices for the dreams range from $10 for a dream kid's birthday card to $550 for a plane ticket to send a kid to Disney World. Tardiff says people can choose the specific dream they most feel connected to.

"So if you're a sports fan, I imagine you'd gravitate to the page where Kaden gets to meet his hero Josh Morrissey, and you get to see the pieces that goes into that dream," said Tardiff. "So folks who connect with the sports aspect will likely pick items from that, folks who enjoy traveling will often pick the vacation dreams."

Tardiff said the idea came to them a few years ago, inspired by online gift registries and school book orders. She said it's also a good opportunity to show people how the kids' dreams are fulfilled.

"We do get questions of how much do dreams cost, what do kids want, and how they can support in those ways," Tardiff said. "We found that with the Dream Book, it's a really great way to present this to folks who want to get involved, to kind of give them that range of the different ways they can support and how it'll make a difference."

The dreams are up for bids until January 1. Tardiff says the first $30,000 in donations is being matched by Bonafide Construction. More information can be found online.