Our Mandate

The Herbie Fund’s mission is to bring children from around the world to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) for life-saving or life-altering surgeries – surgeries that are not available to them in their home countries because of high costs and lack of medical expertise. The Herbie Fund believes that we must do everything in our power to ensure their health and well being.

Our History

The Herbie Fund is an energetic and committed volunteer-based fundraising group that has been inspiring communities to invest in child health for over 30 years. Paul and Gina Godfrey established the Herbie Fund at SickKids in 1979 in response to the needs of Herbie Quinones and children like him from around the world. Herbie, a seven-month-old baby from Brooklyn, New York, was born with a rare birth defect that made it difficult for him to breathe while eating. SickKids had pioneered an innovative procedure that could heal him, but Herbie's family could not afford the flight to Toronto or the surgery. Upon hearing of the family’s plight, Paul and Gina Godfrey initiated a fundraising campaign to bring Herbie to SickKids, creating the foundation for what would become ‘The Herbie Fund’.

Today

Each year, The Herbie Fund makes surgeries possible thanks to the generous support of the community and the dedication of clinicians in a wide range of medical divisions at SickKids, including Cardiology/ Cardiovascular Surgery, Urology, General Surgery, Plastics and Neurosurgery. More than 640 children from Mongolia, Ecuador, Russia, Kenya, Botswana, Trinidad and 94 other countries have received specialized medical and surgical assistance through the Fund.

The Herbie Fund also helps raise the profile of SickKids in the international medical community and inspires people here at home to collaborate and engage for the sole purpose of changing a child’s life. 

The number of children helped depends entirely on the amount of money donated and unfortunately there are always more applications than the Fund can support. The ability to meet this challenge depends on the philanthropic spirit of generous supporters, doctors, nurses and the International Patient Program at SickKids, as well as members and volunteers. All Herbie applications are put through a rigorous medical review process and Herbie funds are stewarded with care, professionalism, and due diligence.

Today, Herbie Quinones is a thriving 31-year-old and, thanks to the Herbie Fund, hundreds more children are living longer, more productive lives. Together we can help so many more and shape the future of communities all over the world.

What the Herbie Fund Covers

The Herbie Fund covers the treatment expenses, including hospital stay in the ward, test and procedures, and clinical appointments.

SickKids is proud to share that all of the physicians donate their time and expertise.  Therefore, they waive their surgical fees.  This is their gift to the children and helps to ensure we can extend the Herbie Funds to support more children.

Herbie Fund Statistics

Number of Children assisted last fiscal year (April 2009- March 2010):

 25 Children

Children were assisted from following countries in 09/10:

Total number of patients assisted to date and countries:
640 children from approximately 100 countries