Thirty-five seasons of celebration

With the flip of a switch, London’s evening winter sky turns a hazy shade of pink.  

It happens like clockwork every year on the fifteenth day of November.  

And it signifies the outpouring of generosity from people far and wide through St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation’s Season of Celebration campaign  

In 2025, Season of Celebration marks 35 years of community support for the patients and resident receiving care across St. Joseph’s Health Care London.  

From its earliest days in 1990 to today, donors have embraced the Christmas campaign. The Foundation’s records show that through the years more than 21,000 people from across Canada, the United States, Portugal, Spain and England have shared their kindness and holiday spirit with a gift – with some doing so in each year of the campaign.  

Dr. Gillian Kernaghan is one of those donors who has donated nearly every single year since the campaign began.  

“Through the years, generous donors to Season have enriched the lives of those whom St. Joseph’s provides care in so many ways. This is why I continue to support the Season of Celebration…it adds to the care in healthcare, says St. Joseph’s former President & CEO.  

In total, people have generously donated nearly $9 million to support compassionate care, comfort and connection for patients and residents.

“We’re so grateful to people in the community who give to Season – some who have been doing so for 35 years,” says Michelle Campbell, President & CEO, St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation, who has been part of every single Season campaign. “This campaign has been a means through which donor have also honoured others during the Christmas season, and recognized patients in hospital who aren’t able to be home,”.  

It’s all about people  

At its heart, Season of Celebration has always been about people.  

People like Fressia Rivas, who found hope and healing through the rehabilitation program at St. Joseph’s after a stroke upended her life when she was just 36 years of age.  

Or Bill Thompson, who credits the interdisciplinary care in St. Joseph’s Transitional Lifelong care Program, including clinical care and innovative physiotherapy, for helping him stay strong and feel like his best self.

“Everything that we have done for Season, since the beginning, has been about enriching the  care experience for people at St. Joseph’s,” says Campbell. “Christmas can be a difficult time for people in hospital, including staff who are away from their own families.  The pink lights of Season offer an important brightness and hope for many each year..”

The early days  

The creation of this campaign is a story in itself.  

The idea for Season grew out of the creative and very strategic mind of Judith Walker, the Executive Director at the legacy Parkwood Hospital Foundation. When an idea for a festival of trees that would include multiple hospital foundations in the community didn’t move forward as planned, Walker began to think about how it might fit to support patient and resident needs at Parkwood Institute Main (formerly Parkwood Hospital)

With Parkwood’s home-like setting and so many patients and residents remaining in hospital during the holiday season, Walker wanted to create a festive-like atmosphere to lift each person’s spirits and give them Christmas at their home away from home.  

Walker then worked with artist Kathryn Naylor who, following a tour of Parkwood created a beautiful painting featuring a large tree with delicate pink lights entitled “In a Season of Celebration”. From there the campaign name, brand and trademark pink colour were established.  

That gave the team everything they needed to begin six months of planning.  

From identifying a fundraising project, preparing letters, radio PSA’s and media releases to screwing in the light bulbs into the strings of lights and ensuring the generator was ready to power the beloved pink lights – it was a major undertaking.  

“It was an exciting time,” says Campbell who had just started working with the Foundation that year.  

With a new campaign, came a major launch, which included the use of a special holiday song: When the lights came on at Christmas, generously shared by local musician Glenn Bennett.  

“It was the Season of Celebration theme song in the early days,” shares Campbell. “And a choir performed it to a packed audience in the Parkwood auditorium as we kicked off the campaign for the first time in 1990.”  

In future years, the fundraising team worked with a recording studio to create cassette tapes of the song which were sold as part of the annual fundraising activities.  

The goal in 1990 was $10,000 to support a bed check system. As the six-week campaign came to close, more than $20,000 was received.  

What made Season so unique in the early days was how the entire hospital staff team took part in the development of a full calendar of events and activities – things that created the special spark people feel during the holiday season.  

In a 1991 article from Parkwood’s newsletter The Pulse, Michael Boucher, then President of the legacy Parkwood Hospital said: “The staff are not just part of Season of Celebration, they are the reason the event is so successful. They understand how important these events are in the lives of our patients and their families.”

Over time, the campaign has changed but it has stayed true to its roots.  

“Season of Celebration started as a grassroots project, and I believe that continues to be its strength,” says Campbell. “One patient at a time, one donation at a time and one project at a time; it’s always had a focus on what ensuring patients and residents can live their best lives.”

Care, comfort and connection

Thirty-five years of donor support has translated into a multitude of front-line projects being funded all contributing to the care, comfort and connection of patients and residents.  

From that first project in 1990 – a bed check system and the installation of new television and radio systems across the entirety of Parkwood in 2002 to pressure reducing mattresses and ultrasound, EMG and lithotripter machines in 2011 and 2012, to sleeping chairs, slit lamps, elliptical machines and cuddle beds in the past five years, the impact is significant. And each project has meant enriched care, comfort and connection for patients and residents.  

“Everyone at St. Joseph’s is so grateful to people in the community who continue to believe and provide hope through their donations,” says Campbell. “Every single gift matters and makes an important difference.”