We Care Fund

https://www.wefundcare.com/about

My name is Valentino Saturno and I live in Kitchener. 

I grew up in Galt, since relocating to Canada from Italy, and been living in the Golden Triangle for about 60 years. 

I am in the automotive industry, selling and managing the Cadillac franchise at Bennett GM on Hespeler Road. 

On Feb 14th 2016, my son Ryan, lost his battle to cancer.   Immediately after his passing, I registered the Ryan Saturno Patient Amenities Fund o/a We Fund Care, with the intention to possibly assist a few families that have a child battling cancer.  

Never in a million years, did I think that the foundation would become what it is today.  

To date, we have now financially assisted 236 families in the Province of Ontario and have raised well over a Million Dollars since inception.  The Charity has become very important to the 5 major children's hospitals in Ontario.  The hospital Social Workers all know about us and when they have a family that they believe, is financially stressed, they refer the family to the charity, to seek support.  

The process for the family to follow, is to apply online on our website, wefundcare.com, and also have the Doctor in charge of the child's care and treatments, submit a referral letter to us, confirming the diagnosis and the treatment plans.  This eliminates the need for us to confirm that the application is legit and not a possible fraud attempt.   The Board of Directors, review every application and vote accordingly.  Once approved, we have the families submit monthly expense reports, along with receipts, for out of pocket expenses incurred for travel, meals, accommodation, parking etc.  We then reimburse the families on a monthly basis.  

The Charity has also funded the renovation of a Family Room in the Pediatrics Division at Grand River Hospital.  The renovation expense was approximately $250,000 and the charity has committed to fund it over a 15 year period.  The charity has also committed to fund 3 rooms at the Ronald McDonald House in Hamilton.  This is a $15,000 annual fee that we incur and have incurred for the past 10 years.  

My plan is to speak at the Rotary meeting, and also show a video that was prepared by CTV Kitchener, introducing the foundation.  

I have the video on a memory stick, so will need equipment to show it.  

Let me know if you require any additional information. 

Thank you