Donations of Gifts and Time

On behalf of McMaster Children’s Hospital, we thank you for thinking of us and supporting the programming offered to our patients and families. Our first priority is patient safety and for that reason we need to be very specific about our guidelines. Please review the information below before making a donation.

Please review our wish list for items we need and are able to accept:

For infection control reasons, all donations must be pre-approved by the Child Life department. We will not accept items that are dropped off without prior approval.

As a result of our visiting policies and in keeping with public health guidelines, donors will need to complete the screening questions https://screening.hhsc.ca/login . Masks are provided at the entrance to the building and are required to enter the hospital. To learn about how to drop off your donation, please e-mail cookejen@hhsc.ca to discuss the items you are wishing to donate as well as current needs of the hospital.

Ways to donate

Mail:
You can ship your donation to our delivery address:
Attn: Child Life – 3D16
McMaster Children’s Hospital
1200 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON
L8N 3Z5

Drop Off: If you wish to drop off your donation at the hospital, please e-mail cookejen@hhsc.ca to learn more.

Online: We realize that not everyone is comfortable shopping right now. If you would prefer, you can make a monetary donation and we will purchase items we need. Secure online donations can be made any time through Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation for Child Life at hamiltonhealth.ca/toys. Or if you would like to make a secure general donation to McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation, follow this link: Hamiltonhealth.ca/donate. Please e-mail donations@hhsc.ca with any questions or issues.

Volunteering: In accordance with our hospital policies on privacy, confidentiality and infection control, we cannot allow guests to volunteer on a one-time basis for events, holidays or to lead programming sessions such as crafts, board games or story-time. If you are interested in volunteering with our patients on a consistent, long-term basis, please visit the Volunteer Resources webpage to apply to become a volunteer online.