BY WVU MEDICINE
Representatives from Spirit Halloween costume retail stores presented the WVU Medicine Children’s Child Life Program with a check for $122,455, which was donated by store customers last fall.
Spirit Halloween’s Spirit of Children Program and WVU Medicine Children’s teamed up to celebrate Halloween by hosting reserve trick-or-treating for hospitalized patients.
“Spirit of Children is the heart of Spirit Halloween — putting a smile on the face of a child who is undergoing testing, treatment, or the healing process is pure magic,” Steve Stapleton, Spirit Halloween zone manager said. “This is the best way to show our gratitude to the local communities that have supported Spirit Halloween for 39 years.”
Funds raised help provide non-medical treatment and healing play. The most recent donation will be used to offset Child Life Program salaries and training, and to purchase sensory items for the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit Playroom in the new WVU Medicine Children’s hospital.
“Spirit of Children radiates the power of giving,” Ryan Harris, WVU Medicine Children’s patient experience and family centered care director, said. “We are in constant gratitude of the unwavering support year after year. Spirit of Children allows our Child Life Program the opportunity to provide the resources needed to support patients and their families throughout their healthcare journey. The impact of their monetary donations is forever embedded in the walls of WVU Medicine Children’s hospital.”
Spirit Halloween collected proceeds for WVU Medicine Children’s in-person at stores throughout West Virginia and Uniontown, Pa., online at SpiritHalloween.com, and from business partners.
To-date, the Spirit of Children Program, which focuses on making hospitals less scary for kids and their families, has raised $712,947 for WVU Medicine Children’s.
For more information on WVU Medicine Children’s, visit WVUKids.com.
