We Help BANA to Help Windsor

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I'm five. I

Lucy (left) and Mia (right) accept our cheque. Frankie and Chance and me walk for BANA every year.

live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.  Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! Oh. Wait! Frankie lives with us, too. He's our cousin. He's very small but he is four. Frankie and me go to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre on Sandwich Street. Chance is too newborn to go to daycare. He stays home with Grandpa James. Chance sleeps a lot and drinks a lot of chocolate owls' milk from his bottle.

Know what? We went to BANA this morning. That's the Bulimia Anorexia  Nervosa Association. That's a lot of big words,but I know what BANA means. It means that people who have trouble with food can get help. BANA has been helping people for 30 years. That's a long time but I bet Grandpa James is older. He must be a hunnert!

Every year Frankie and Chance and me go to Mayor Eddie's Riverwalk on the Queen's Birthday. We walk five kilometres. It's lots of fun because we walk in the parks along the Detroit River. We walk with our friends and neighbours.  We ask our friends and neighbours and buddies to sponsor us. We want to raise money for BANA. It costs money to help others, you know. 

This year, good citizens gave Frankie, Chance and me $100 for walking. Chance tried to lick the $100 bill. He thinks it tastes like maple syrup. I had to say, "My son! Take that out of your mouth! You can't eat money! It's not one of the four food groups!" Honestly, Chance is a handful.

Wow! $100 is a lot of money, you know! I'm glad we could give the money to BANA.

BANA has an important job to do. BANA goes to schools to help boys and girls understand how to eat. BANA teaches everyone about body image. Body image means to be proud of yourself. BANA teaches everyone about self-esteem. That means being good to yourself. Everyone needs to know those things so they can be happy. When we're happy, we are good citizens!

I will tell you a secret. I think Miss Lucy and Miss Mia are princesses. Princesses work very hard to make Windsor a better place to live and play.

You can eat spaghetti for BANA at the Caboto Club, you know. Spaghetti is yummy and yummy is one of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide.

 I will tell you another secret. Please don't wait until the Queen's birthday next year to give money to BANA. Good citizens share their money all year long 'cuz Windsor needs helpers every day, not just on Victoria Day. You help BANA help Windsor everytime you donate money. That makes you good citizens and good citizens get to drink root beer and eat Smarties with Frankie and Chance and me in our tree house. 

Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario!  Grandpa James is hollering, "Where's Frankie? Where's my handsome bear cub? Where's my Knight of Knewfoundland and my Lord of Labrador?" That's Frankie. He's a handsome bear cub. He's the Knight of Knewfoundland and the Lord of Labrador!

Chance and me help Patrick to hold up the BANA banner.

We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Help BANA help Windsor. Give them money. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house! We can help BANA together! Okay! Over and out!"