CIBC Miracle Day

CIBC Miracle Day is held on the first Wednesday in December during which CIBC's wholesale banking sales and trading staff and CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisers donate their fees and commissions to children's charities. CIBC Miracle Day is one of Canada's largest one-day corporate fundraising events devoted to children's charities. All funds raised are donated to over 400 children's charities in communities across Canada.

Since it started in 1984, CIBC Miracle Day has raised more than $190 million for children's charities and in 2008, Miracle Day raised over $3.1 million across Canada. The success of Miracle Day is based on the participation and generosity of our clients, employees and Canadian charities.

This year, Miracle Day will be held on Wednesday December 2.

The CIBC Children's Foundation is a registered charity responsible for distributing funds raised on Miracle Day and was founded on the belief that by working with our clients, employees and Canadian charities, we can make a difference in the lives of children in need.

The CIBC Children's Foundation supports programs meeting four key objectives:

• Improve the quality of life for children in need in the communities served by our Wholesale Banking business and CIBC Wood Gundy.
• Demonstrate our dedication in helping to prepare Canadian children for future success.
• Along with our clients, build awareness internally and externally, of the Foundation's commitment to children.
• Encourage volunteerism and foster community engagement on the part of our employees.

The CIBC Children's Foundation has three areas of focus: health, education and well-being. Here are some examples of organizations that the Foundation supports:

The Hockey Education Reaching Out Society (H.E.R.O.S.) is committed to empowering children through ice hockey. The program focuses on boys and girls of diverse ethnicity from economically challenged neighborhoods. The premise of H.E.R.O.S. is to use the game of hockey as a catalyst to attract youth to a program offering support for education self-esteem building and life skills training.

The Halton Learning Foundation collaborates with the Halton District School Board to remove economic barriers to learning for students in need. The Foundation allocates resources to enrich educational opportunities and support school initiatives.

Bloorview Kids Rehab is Canada's largest children's rehabilitation hospital that is committed to creating a world of possibility for kids with disability. Bloorview pioneers treatments, technologies, therapies and real-world programs that give children with disabilities the tools to participate fully in life.

Zebra Child Protection Centre integrates a multi-disciplinary community of professionals in a child-centred environment that enables them to respond to child abuse with a professional, compassionate and highly integrated program of healing and justice.

Centre de répit Philou welcomes physically disabled children of up to twelve years of age for periods that can vary from one day to three weeks at a time to offer respite to parents.