Spirit of Children Makes Its Most Spooktacular Donation to Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital

On March 10, Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital, part of Jefferson Health, and Spirit Halloween came together to celebrate a major fundraising milestone. With the presentation of a check for $160,680, Spirit of Children – Spirit Halloween’s charitable foundation – made its largest-ever contribution to the Child Life Program at the Children’s Hospital since 2012, thanks to in-store donations at select Spirit Halloween and Spirit Christmas stores.

Focused on making hospitals less scary for kids and their families, Spirit of Children raises money in Spirit Halloween and, for the first time this year, Spirit Christmas stores, as well as online at SpiritHalloween.com and through its business partners during the Halloween and now holiday season. When shoppers donate in-store at a Spirit Halloween or Spirit Christmas location in the Lehigh Valley and select surrounding areas, 100% of their charitable contribution stays local, going directly to Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital to benefit kids and families in the region.

“We are so passionate about helping the kids in our community, we don’t ask whether someone would like to donate, we ask ‘How much would you like to donate to the Child Life program at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital?’” says Randy Anthony, Director, Spirit Stores-Mid-Atlantic, Spirit Halloween. “And we celebrate every single donation with the ringing of a bell and a team cheer. It is truly a group effort between our staff and the community.”

Since 2012, Spirit Halloween has given over $1.25 million to Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital’s Child Life Program – the largest program in the region with specialists focusing on children’s social, emotional and intellectual growth. These funds are put toward purchasing toys and educational activities, which child life specialists use to help patients, parents, caregivers and siblings feel less stressed and more at ease about the uncertainty surrounding surgeries, clinic appointments and hospital stays. It also enables the child life team to ensure kids are meeting developmental and educational milestones while undergoing treatment by providing for distraction and relaxation tools, medical play, special events, pet therapy, playrooms and more.

“We are so grateful for the generosity and continued support of Spirit of Children,” says Vanessa Gramm-Mackey, Director, Child Life Program at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital. “Spirit of Children is an essential partner for our child life team. It is because of them that we are able to provide the great experiences for our patients and families. This includes hosting a Halloween party for our patients each fall that features donated costumes, games and fun activities.”

Previous support from Spirit of Children has been used to purchase arts and crafts, gifts, dolls for educational purposes and KindVR headsets, which use virtual reality to help children relax during medical treatments. The funds from this past year will be used to:

• Purchase more KindVR headsets, which create a virtual MRI experience to alleviate nerves and reduce the need for sedation or anesthesia.
• Install a brand-new fish tank on the Children’s Hospital’s 4B Pediatric Unit as well as maintain a fish tank on Pediatric Unit 5J that was originally purchased using Spirit of Children funds.
• Buy new gaming systems for our Children’s Cancer & Infusion Center.

Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital would like to thank all who donated online or at a Spirit Halloween or Spirit Christmas store in the Lehigh Valley. It’s because of your generosity that we’re able to continue advancing our quality of care and the support we’re able to provide children and their families in the region.