Canada Life gives $100K to Children’s Museum push to open by year’s end

An insurance giant has pledged as much as $100,000 to the London Children’s Museum after officials made a seven-figure plea for support in order to open in its new location by year’s end as scheduled.

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The opening at the new location, 100 Kellogg Lane, has already been delayed by roughly 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s fallout, which drove up construction costs by more than one-third. A call for financial help was announced by Canada Life, company officials announced on Wednesday.

“(The museum) is important to the community which makes it important to Canada Life,” said the insurance firm’s senior vice-president, Jeff Van Hoeve. “We’re very committed to London and to all the people who work with us, most of whom have kids coming to the museum.”

The insurance giant, located in London at a marquee downtown office on Dufferin Avenue, will be matching donations to the museum until Nov. 30 up to $100,000. Canada Life has already given another $150,000 – continuing support they say dates back to the museum’s opening in 1977.

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“This donation brings us so close to our goal, which is absolutely amazing and we’re so grateful to everyone that’s given so far,” said Kate Ledgley, the museum’s executive director.

The money announced on Wednesday means the museum is now 80 per cent toward its $1-million goal, money needed to open by year’s end.

The Children’s Museum has been a rite of childhood for generations of kids in and around London, having opened in 1977 in a former school building on Wharncliffe Road that was its home for decades. The move to 100 Kellogg Lane, which will be double the size of the old space, is costing $23 million of which nearly $20 million has been raised to date.

Museum officials say the new home will include eight hands-on customized exhibits and interactive play areas. The new museum, first announced in 2018, is expected to attract an estimated 150,000 visitors a year, up from the 100,000 who visit the existing museum annually, officials say.

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