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Meet the five winners of the inaugural Today's Parent For Kids' Sake Awards. Chosen from more than 140 reader nominations, these champions each saw a need and found a way to respond. In the process, each has changed children's lives. We're proud to honour their achievements and urge them forward
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Camilla Gryski Toronto
Camilla Gryski has worn many hats - teacher, author, education scholar - but kids who have spent time at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children are most likely to see her in a purple wig.
It was 1995 when Gryski - who had been working as the hospital's librarian for almost two decades - decided to follow in the floppy footsteps of her son Damian, a juggler, busker and circus performer. "In a lot of ways my ability to clown came from hanging out with him and watching him perform."
Until she retired this year, Posy the clown spent two days each week visiting kids on the hospital's eighth floor, most of whom have cancer. Far more than an entertainer, Posy was part of the health care team, aware of every child's situation and prognosis. She was careful to let kids take the lead. "I always remind myself that it's a privilege to be stepping into their space."
When a child invited her in, Posy would first wash her hands, only to get tangled up in the paper towels. Then she'd paint a tattoo on a little hand, blow bubbles, play hide-and-seek or joke with a teenager about how they both hated clowns. "You have a vocabulary of things you do, but mostly you just listen."
Gryski remembers one young girl who rarely made eye contact. "I had a very quiet, very gentle play relationship with her." When the little girl died, her parents asked Posy to come to the memorial service in full costume. "The trust that was placed in me by the family was something I'll never forget."
Did the strain ever show on her painted face? "At the end of the day, when the makeup comes off, that's when it hits you emotionally," says Gryski, who is creating a new clown character and hopes to make visits to the homes of children in palliative care. "I made the choice...