Walk so Kids Can Talk annual fundraiser for Kids Help Phone

The annual BMO Walk so Kids Can Talk supporting Kids Help Phone was held across Canada Sunday.

Hundreds gathered at Springbank Gardens in London, Ont. to show their support and take part in the family friendly 5 km walk.

“A wonderful event here, 35 years we’ve been supporting the Kids Help Phone, this cause that really supports our youth and kids, we know that when we invest in these generations that it’s just fruit for all of us and we all benefit,” said Kristen Kennedy, BMO senior specialist.

Kids Help Phone's free, confidential and multilingual e-mental health care services are always open, offering youth across the country a non-judgmental space to Feel Out Loud and get support through phone, text and online resources.

“In the last year, we’ve helped kids four million times, and since the beginning of the pandemic we’ve helped them 19 million times and the numbers keep raising, and 75 per cent of our users have said that they said something to Kids Help Phone that they’ve never told anyone,” said Jessica Millet, the director of People and Culture, Kids Help Phone.

Kids Help Phone says they have a responsibility and an ambition to transform access to more equitable mental health resources through the power of technology, data, innovation and more.

“The Feel Out Loud campaign is a national campaign that we have at Kids Help Phone, with a goal of 300 million dollars to raise in order to be there for kids,” said Millet.

London’s site goal was $50,000 this year, and organizers say they exceeded that target.

“We wanted to push it to 60 [thousand], so we are about four thousand dollars off. So we’re so excited we’re pretty pumped that we are going to hit that,” added Kennedy.