A sold-out dinner at Rupert Street Recording Studio in Waterloo, Ontario, raised more than $80,000 on May 27, 2026, to speed up mental health care for children and youth across the region. The third annual Stronger Together Mental Health Dinner brought together community advocates, donors, and clinical leaders to back a new care model at Waterloo Regional Health Network that aims to cut wait times for young people.
The money will support the Integrated Collaborative Care Project for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Waterloo Regional Health Network, or WRHN. This project is the first of its kind in Ontario, designed to connect young people with faster, coordinated support that brings together pediatricians, psychiatrists, family doctors, and other health professionals all at once. Rather than bouncing between separate services, a child can get help from a team that works together from the start.
The dinner has now collected more than $195,000 over three years for children’s and youth mental health programming and equipment at WRHN. This year’s sold-out crowd shows that local families and businesses are eager to back practical solutions for a strained system.
The evening also honoured four local advocates with Bloom Awards. Canadian musician and former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page received the Bloom Award for Mental Health Advocacy. Page has been open about living with bipolar disorder and performed an intimate set for the crowd. Scott Tonelli of Arthur, Ontario, got the Bloom Award for Community Impact—his Change 4 Change holiday light show has raised more than $40,000 for kids’ mental health at WRHN since 2019, after a crisis with his own son pushed him to act. Tracy Valko, founder of Valko Financial and the dinner itself, earned the Bloom Award for Mental Health Advocacy, having built the fundraiser from the ground up. Maddi Kolberg, founder and CEO of presenting sponsor Generations Collective, received the Bloom Award for Patient Resilience. She has turned profound personal loss and her family’s mental health journey into advocacy for other families.
Emceed by realtor Scott Henderson, dinner was supported by SV Law, the Morris & Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation, BMO, and Rupert Street Recording. The grassroots energy behind the event underscores how families and business owners are stepping up to fill gaps in mental health care. In a region where wait times for youth counselling can stretch months, the new integrated care pilot offers a tangible path to getting kids help sooner. Organizers say the next dinner is already being planned to keep that momentum going.
