The loss of Kate and Kent Hammond’s son was the inspiration to create a scholarship in his memory.
Miles Hammond was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer at just three months old. He passed away nine months later.
“He was, through it all, the biggest champ,” Kate says. “He was tenacious, still very trusting, and still found joy despite going through chemotherapy and surgery. He really just exemplified true grit and perseverance in the face of challenges. He was a pretty amazing kid.”
It just so happened that Kent’s aunt Beverly Hammond had started an advertising agency called “Broken Heart Love Affair.”
“If you ever look at any pictures of him, his spirit just shines through and he’s magnetic and charismatic,” Denise Rossetto, Partner at Broken Heart Love Affair, says. She, along with the three other partners at the agency, got together without Beverly knowing to figure out how they could honour her nephew. She says they figured partnering with Miami Ad School, which is based in Miami but has a campus in Toronto, would work perfectly.
The agency and the school are sponsoring two separate scholarships through the Miles Philip Hammond Scholarship. The two-year program will cover $40,000, which will help put two students through the program. “It’s for people who have shown they have overcome obstacles because we really wanted to capture the obstacles that Miles tried to overcome,” Rossetto explains.
“For us, Miles’ spirit and tenacity and spirit and everything he represented was about opportunity and having the chance to live and to struggle and to fight and all of these things are encompassed in a scholarship that could change someone’s lives,” Kate says.
“Miles changed our lives forever and this scholarship has the potential to someone who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to really change the trajectory of their lives so we really thought it was fitting,” Kate goes on to say.
You can apply for the scholarship through the school’s website.