Ryan Reynolds and his ugly sweater just raised $850K for SickKids in Toronto
Canadian actor and philanthropist Ryan Reynolds helped raise nearly one million dollars over the 2021 holiday season for Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) by donning his now-infamous "aesthetically-challenged holiday sweater" for a third consecutive year.
With the help of some famous friends and thousands of generous donors, Reynolds has been raising money for SickKids every December for the past three years with his ugly, bow-adorned sweater.
What started out as a prank pulled by Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal has grown since 2018 into an annual campaign in which Reynolds raises both funds and awareness for one of the world's leading paediatric hospitals.
He’s baaaack… 🥰 Our beloved @VancityReynolds returns in his “aesthetically challenged” holiday sweater & this time, there’s matching scrubs for the staff @SickKidsNews, too. 💙 Thank you Ryan! pic.twitter.com/lZKEENjg9o
— SickKids Foundation (@sickkids) December 9, 2021
This time around, the Deadpool and Free Guy star promoted the charity initiative by gifting a whole bunch of fun, ugly-holiday-sweater-themed scrubs to the hard-working doctors and nurses at SickKids.
It was the campaign's most successful year to date.
Go ugly sweater go! Turning something ugly into something beautiful is what @SickKids Foundation does every day. Big thanks, @SamsungCanada @MapleLeafs and all who gave. https://t.co/wLOr6Fgm6M
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) January 13, 2022
"Wrapping up 2021 in a bow, Ryan Reynolds #SweaterLove campaign raised more than $850,000 for SickKids this past December!" reads a Facebook update from the hospital published Thursday.
"Included in that incredible total was a $100,000 match from our friends Samsung and proceeds from the Toronto Maple Leafs auctioning off player-signed sweaters... Thank you Ryan and all the Sweater Love supporters out there, for bringing the holiday magic to SickKids once again!"
"Thank you for helping this butt-ugly sweater raise over $850,000! wrote Reynolds himself on Facebook of the campaign's newly-announced results.
"Turning something ugly into something beautiful is what SickKids Foundation does every day."
