My name is Ana and I am fundraising to save my favourite place in Etobicoke, Canada…. Funny Bones Game Lounge. In a time where small community businesses are disappearing more and more, I feel that we need to do whatever we can to support local businesses that have made a huge difference. Funny Bones has been a viable business in our community for many years, bringing people together and creating a fun space. However, unforeseeable circumstances such as the pandemic have created crippling debt loads for them. Please consider donating to help them pay off the debt to keep them in business and save our family-friendly community hub. Any amount will help greatly!

Funny Bones game lounge is a third place where people from all ages and all backgrounds can come together to have fun and decompress. It kept youth curious, eager to learn and play, while at the same time off their phones and off the street with youth programming like March break, winter, and summer STEM camps, as well as weekly dungeons and dragons groups, after school programs, and Pokémon play days. Funny Bones is an inclusive, safe space in the community where everyone feels welcome and seen. Whenever you go to funny bones, you can see people from all walks of life and all backgrounds laughing, coming together and having a great time. The owners John and Laurie have done so much for our community and have committed to maintaining the accessibility and affordability of this space for all members of the community. Despite serious hardship and financial burden, they have maintained a pricing model where people can pay a 1 time fee ($6) for unlimited play, and have kept their food and drink costs very affordable. There are little other places where this is the case, and where entire families can go here together without having to worry about the costs of a night of fun.

I have been a regular at Funny Bones since before the pandemic and have grown up within their walls and among the shelves of hundreds of games. I was also an attendee of every single week of their student nights over the course of several years, where I got to meet some of my most cherished friends. These student nights are sincerely what got me through university. When times were hard, and no matter how stressed I was or how much my anxiety was distressing me, I knew I had funny bones to look forward to every Thursday from the start of first year all the way to fourth. Funny Bones was my haven through both challenging and exciting times, and it truly has a very special place in my heart. Funny Bones later also turned into my first full time job. I worked a summer at their summer enrichment camp, where I got to see first-hand the impact they were making with youth in the community. Children of all ages were coming together at these camp weeks and having fun, fostering their love of learning and feeling included. No phones were in sight and many children ended up becoming camp regulars and spending multiple weeks at Funny Bones of their own volition because of how much they enjoyed their experiences there. Since then, I have worked on-call throughout my studies as an event host. I have hosted countless parties and have seen the lengths that John and Laurie go to to give every person the best day possible. I myself have also celebrated every birthday there for the past many years.

John and Laurie also support many schools in the community, as well as community organizations and fundraising initiatives. When the pandemic hit, John and Laurie fought to keep play alive despite the hard times. They rented out their games and did safe and distanced local deliveries. They transitioned to virtual and worked very hard to organize and host incredible online parties, virtual escape rooms, geo caching events, online team building events, etc. Funny Bones has done so much for me, but more importantly, for our larger community. The loss of Funny Bones is devastating and will negatively impact our community. When I saw John and Laurie the other day, despite their heartbreak, their message was that their hope is that “play will live on.” Please consider donating anything to help support a staple of the community. All proceeds will go towards keeping this safe, affordable and inclusive third place, and keeping play alive.