Good Sports: HELPING KIDS GET BETTER SLEEP
Former National Hockey League player Dave Dryden chairs a charity called Sleeping Children Around the World that collects money from Canadian and American donors and buys bedkits for underprivileged children in nine developing countries, including India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
Each bedkit includes a mat or mattress, bedding, a mosquito net, school supplies, and other items, depending on local needs.
In January this year, the Ontario-based charity distributed 5,000 bedkits in Kolkata, and in February distributed 4,000 in Belgaum, Karnataka; 5,000 in Chennai; 2,100 in Mumbai; and 4,000 in Pune.
“Of the nine countries, we give more to India than anywhere else,” said Dryden, whose parents started the charity in 1970.
He has been to India several times, but didn’t travel this year. His sister, Judy Dryden, went to Kolkata and Chennai, while his daughter, Debbie Will-Dryden, went to Mumbai.
“It’s quite an amazing country,” Dryden said. “I love going over there. The people that we’ve met are just wonderful people.”
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