HAVE A HEART: DO YOUR PART: YOUTH FOR A CURE
This Valentine’s Day is about more than celebration.
It’s about choosing love as a force for change.
We’re inviting our entire community - young people, families, schools, and long-time supporters to come together and turn love into action in a way that truly matters.
Have a Heart ❤️ Do Your Part: Youth for a Cure is a youth-led Valentine’s fundraising campaign supporting cancer research through the Défi Canderel. What began years ago as two kids baking cookies in their kitchen has grown into a movement rooted in love, leadership, and collective impact - now reaching schools and communities in a bigger way than ever before.
Cancer affects one in two Canadians.
It touches our parents, teachers, friends, classmates, colleagues, and families - often quietly, often personally. This campaign helps bring cancer out of the shadows and into collective care and action. Young people are stepping forward to learn how to fundraise, speak about what matters, and lead with heart, supported by families, educators, and a community that believes in them.
Where the Funds Go
For more than 37 years, the Défi Canderel has funded cancer research freely and without restriction.
To date, over $31 million has supported groundbreaking research at:
• L’Institut du cancer de Montréal at l'Université de Montréal
• The Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute at McGill University.
This commitment has helped position Montreal as a global leader in cancer research and innovation, attracting top researchers and accelerating discoveries that save lives.
A Youth-Led Movement Growing with Hope
This campaign is led by Team Wenes, founded by siblings Izaya Hendrix Cormier Wener and Sunny Cormier, who began fundraising for cancer research at just four and five years old.
As grandchildren of Défi Canderel founders, Jonathan and Susan Wener, they grew up alongside this cause, baking and selling thousands of cookies, going door to door, and learning how generosity turns into impact.
This year marks a new chapter. For the first time, Have a Heart is being shared with a small number of pilot schools, placing this mission directly into the hands of young people and empowering them to lead together.
This pilot is the beginning of a youth ambassador movement rooted in a simple truth: leadership doesn’t belong to the future alone, it lives in how we care for the world today.
Our Partnership with MANDY’S
This year, all cookies and baking products for Have a Heart are proudly supplied by MANDY'S - delicious, health-forward favourites that make it easy to bake, share, and fundraise together. We’re deeply grateful to MANDY'S for supporting this campaign for a second year in a row and for their ongoing commitment to health, leadership, and community.
In addition to supplying all campaign cookie products, MANDY'S will also be supporting theDéfi Canderel through special in-store initiatives during Valentine’s week across Quebec and Ontario, with more details to come. We’re proud to partner with a brand that shows how care for the body and care for the community go hand in hand.
Scan to fundraise for change and turn love into action.
Important Dates & Call to Action
🗓 Orders close February 6
- Pickups & deliveries run February 11–13.
- Orders over $250 can be delivered
- We also welcome volunteers to help with pickups and school deliveries - lending a hand and a heart makes all the difference.
I couldn’t be prouder of these remarkable boys! From their very first video in 2019, they’ve been igniting change, inspiring hope, and empowering their peers to take meaningful action. These young leaders are not just dreaming of a better future, they’re making it happen!
Watch Izaya Hendrix Cormier's absolutely fabulous speech from Défi Canderel 2024 at age 11.Izaya has been the driving force behind these campaigns from the start. As the main spokesperson for Team Wenes, he’s been tirelessly working to inspire others, raise awareness, and make a lasting impact in the fight against cancer. His leadership continues to be a beacon of hope and action for the next generation.
With all our hearts ❤️ thank you.
By supporting Have a Heart, you are strengthening our community, standing for a cure, and turning love into action. Every cookie, every donation, every conversation, and every helping hand brings us closer to a future where cancer no longer defines our children's future.
Your support truly means the world to us. Because of you, young people are leading with compassion, communities are coming together, and hope is being transformed into real impact.
With gratitude and heart ❤️
Kass, Izaya & Sunny
Team Wenes