Sonia Facchini was carrying a $1,900 cheque when she walked into the Hospital For Sick Children last Friday.

She says the journey was both inspired by and in honour of her late mother’s legacy as a tireless supporter of charitable causes.

When Maria Facchini died in June 2006, son Michael and daughter Sonia decided the best way to remember their mother was to carry on in her footsteps.

Together they formed Mom’s Angels and on Aug. 22 they put on a fundraiser called Momma’s Carwash at St. Padre Pio school in Woodbridge. The money raised would go to one of their mother’s most cherished charities – Sick Kids Hospital.

“They were ecstatic,” Sonia said this week in a lunch hour phone call. “They said: ‘You raised that much at a carwash? How many cars did you wash?'”

Though the day of the carwash itself was a family affair, Sonia says many friends came out to support what was a “full day of fun”, which ended with a barbecue and soccer game.

And, she says, it was an amazing way of “honouring (momma) at the same time”.

“She was a caring, loving person who loved being involved in all community events,” she said.

Sonia reckons her volunteers, which included members of the co-ed under-14 Kleinburg Nobleton Soccer Club she coaches, washed 50 or 60 cars that day for a one-day total of $1,000. The rest came in later donations by people and businesses unable to attend.

Grateful for all the support Momma’s Carwash received and buoyed by its success, Sonia says she is hopeful that the cheque she presented Friday is the first of many to come.

“I think for our first annual carwash, $1,900 is incredible,” she said. “We’re hoping that it’s going to get bigger every year as the word gets out … and, depending on how much money we raise, we would like to contribute to other charities.”

Sonia says she thinks that her mother would be proud of the “wonderful job” she and Michael have started.

“She always used to say that the little things we do are big things,” Sonia said. “They might not be big events, but it’s the little things that we do that make a difference.”

Vaughan Today
Friday, September 28, 2007
Page: 5
Byline: Philip Alves