More than 20 volunteers contributed to the preparation and delivery of our 4th edition of the annual Toy Drive. During the past two years of health concerns due to the pandemic, we all understood that nothing is more relevant than well-being.
The bright lights and the cheerful holiday music become numb when we talk about kids with severe illness and chronic life-threatening diseases. This year we wanted to do something special related to this topic. After exchanging ideas with the volunteers, we decided to dedicate this year holiday drive event to the children at the pediatric oncology department of University Hospital Center "Mother Teresa" (QSUT), the central hospital of the capital.
The doctors and the nurses do their best to treat and cure, but nothing brings more joy than a heartfelt gesture and a well written note. The volunteers selected different items for the packages such as rubix cubes, 3D puzzles, board games, jenga towers, stuffed toys for the little ones, and lots of books.
Additionally, we donated to the hospital ward a selected set of children’s books, wooden toys for toddlers, building blocks, art set craft supplies, brushes, colouring books along with washable markers and crayola pencils. The important thing that we kept in mind was that these gifts were going to provide a distraction from treatment, procedures, and among other things anxiety too.
Volunteers carefully wrapped and embellished everything with attention to details, adding personalized handwritten postcards with messages for each kid and parent. Animation was provided as well, with a futuristic robotics show, a unique thing offered by our staff members and volunteers. The robots were dressed for the occasion with superheroes face masks and were programmed to interact and socialize with the kids, offering a safe virus-free and friendly entertainment.
A special acknowledgment goes to the donors (all the way from New York) that made again possible this year edition, and to the foundation staff involved, the volunteers, the social workers, nurses, and hospital supervisors that despite the extra challenging times created by the virus, made all this feasible.
It was a wholesome day for the kids and their parents, and we’re counting blessings from these experiences.
We have so much more to share in the upcoming new year so visit our website and follow our work and projects on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.