NEWS RELEASE
MULTIPLE BIRTHS CANADA
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While many celebrations across Canada are being cancelled this year due to Covid-19 precautions, one national event will go ahead, continuing an annual tradition that began in 2005. National Multiple Births Awareness Day 2020 will proceed as planned on May 28. Hosting this initiative online is a natural response for Multiple Births Canada (MBC) members, an organization that fully understands self-isolation as it is the reality most multiple birth families experience immediately upon the arrival of their newborns.
Coincidentally, the focus of this year’s event “Connecting Coast to Coast” has become more relevant as Canada’s multiple birth community unites from British Columbia to Newfoundland to celebrate the initiative together, rather than hosting singular local events. People can participate in the celebration through the following:
- Engage in a self-guided learning experience posted on the MBC website which encourages multiple birth families and supporters to learn from the past to prevent history from being repeated. Annette and Cécile Dionne, the surviving sisters of the Dionne Quintuplets, endorsed MBC using their birth date (May 28th) for National Multiple Births Awareness Day to raise awareness of the unique challenges faced by multiple birth children and their families.
- Use a special cake design commemorating the new MBC logo and the “Connecting Coast to Coast” theme and celebrate with family at home. Multiple-birth families can bake a cake and decorate it using the suggested design or create one of their own. Of course, hiring an expert to make one is another option for busy families.
- Join MBC Chair, Ruth Morton, and her family on Facebook Live from www.facebook.com/MultipleBirthsCanada on May 28 at 6 p.m. EDT for a cake cutting ceremony from their home in Guelph, Ontario. MBC projects are almost exclusively handled by volunteers across the country, with other MBC Directors currently living in Windsor, Edmonton, Whitby, Essex, and Ottawa.
Multiple Births Canada will also be launching a 12-month initiative on May 28th, the MBC Coast to Coast Project, which has a goal of growing the number of MBC Chapters across Canada
- Currently there are 11 Chapters in five provinces and the intention is to have a Chapter in every province and double the number of Chapters during the next year.
- To address the needs of Francophone members, an intense effort is in place to translate many MBC resources to French in the coming months. Volunteers and donations are most welcome.
Multiple Births Canada (MBC) was originally formed in 1978 as Parents of Multiple Births Association (POMBA). MBC is the only national support organization for multiple birth families and individuals in Canada. Their mission is to improve the quality of life for multiple birth individuals and their families by providing support, education, research, and advocacy to individuals, families, chapters, and organizations that have a personal or professional interest in multiple birth issues.
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