News
Words from the President of the Franca Dora Foundation
Dear friends,
I would like to announce that after many months of reflection, we have officially changed the name from Garnierkids.com Foundation to the Franca Dora Foundation. My late mother, Angela Franca Dora Novielli founded this foundation in 2004 and we want to honour her and have people remember the foundation the way she would want it to be remembered. We found it appropriate to use Franca Dora as it was a name she used personally.
I, as the President of the Foundation, along with our board members, plan to invest time and effort allowing the foundation to grow to new heights, which means giving back to deserving institutions, benefiting the children of our future.
Thanks to our donors in the past 10 years, we have raised and distributed over $4 million dollars to different children’s organizations. This includes $1 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital, $1 million to Hopital Saint-Justine, and $1 million to the Montreal Oral School for the Deaf. We have also supported different organizations, so that they are able to offer extremely expensive and necessary technology and machines in order to save children’s lives.
My goal is to continue my mom’s legacy by working hard to raise the necessary funds for worthwhile organizations such as those above. We have spent the past few months visiting these institutions and seeing all the amazing things possible, thanks to all of your donations and this foundation. It is truly remarkable.
With the name change comes many other changes, one being the logo. For those who don’t know when my brother was 2 years old he was diagnosed with Meningites. He wasn’t given much hope but my mom always believed and couldn’t accept the bad news. Today my brother is thriving at 26 years old, studying Engineering at Concordia University. Due to the success of the foundation, we’ve been able to give back to the people who helped him and so many other children out there. This was my inspiration for our new logo. This logo represents my mom and brother, as well as all mothers with their children, walking down a path of hope, and doing all they can to secure their children’s health and happiness.
I am also excited to announce 3 new board members onto our board, Pedro Moleirinho, Angela Cristiano, and Michael Rinaldi who have a lot of fresh and young ideas to bring to the table.
My parents truly believed that in life, even when some things do not go according to plan, the foundation must always flourish. I will continue to make sure we help as many children as possible, just as my mother would want. For this to continue, we will need continuous support and donations. For the time being we will not have our yearly gala, however we will communicate through email and our website to keep you best informed on our latest news. Attached, you will find a donation form. We continue to ask for your support. We are so thankful to count on wonderful donors, like yourselves, who have supported the children of this foundation. We, together, have helped save countless lives, and plan to continue. It is remarkable to see what the foundation has done in the past, and I am so excited to see what we can do for the future. Together we can and will make a difference.
I want to thank you all in advance for your generosity.
Lia Borsellino
President
The Franca Dora Foundation initiates the first neurocardio clinic in Canada
The Franca Dora Foundation recently donated $ 700 000 to CHU Sainte-Justine to support the deployment of the first joint clinic in neurodevelopment and cardiac sciences in Canada.
To read the article, click here (French PDF).
Run to grow better!
Last February 20th, Mr. Léo Novielle, employee at Construction Garnier Ltée, represented the Franca Dora Foundation as he took part in a 10-km race called the Ile Bizard Winter Challenge. Completing the race in 51 minutes 40 seconds, he raised $1,030.00. We would like to thank him for his devotion to kids and offer him our sincere congratulations for achieving his personal goal!
