Holiday Hackathon 2024

We’re excited to host our first annual Holiday Hackathon at The Amazing Brentwood. As part of our 2024 Hacking for the Holidays campaign, on Friday, November 22nd, we’re going to switch adapt 250 toys to donate to kids with disabilities in Canada. And we need your help to do it!

Throughout the day, volunteers will be working in two-hour shifts to adapt toys and build switches. Never done anything like this before? Don’t worry, no prior experience working with tools or electronics is required — we’ll walk you through every step. Everyone is welcome.

Every child deserves to play. But for many kids with disabilities, toys can be hard to use independently, and commercially adapted versions can run upwards of $300. However, with a little bit of tinkering, we can switch-adapt toys and make them accessible for a fraction of the cost.

The Holiday Hackathon is part of our Hacking for the Holidays campaign. From September to December, we’re engaging volunteers — students, corporate partners, and other community members — in 80 build events across 10 provinces to help us adapt and donate 2,000 toys and switches to families and clinicians all over Canada.

You will sign up for a time slot — each slot is 2 hours long. We’ll get you started with a 20-minute overview and safety review. After that, you will spend 90 minutes out at our build tables working on a toy and a switch.

At Makers Making Change, a Neil Squire program, with our community of volunteers and library of over 200+ open-source designs that can be made by anyone, we enable people with disabilities to obtain affordable assistive devices and live life to the fullest.

“We use Technology, Knowledge, and Passion to Empower Canadians with Disabilities.” Neil Squire, the Canadian leader in assistive technology, has been revolutionizing the lives of Canadians with disabilities since 1984. Our work is focused on four distinct areas: Innovation, Digital Literacy, Employment, and Assistive Technology. Our work enables people with disabilities to achieve their goals, reach their full potential and continue living life to the fullest.

We collect individual requests for toys on our website (must be logged in)and we have strong relationships with children's hospitals, rehab centres, and occupational therapists across Canada.

1. Event Participation Waiver (Required). Please review here
2. Media Release (Optional). Please review here

Host or Publisher Makers Making Change