Yesterday we hosted our 2nd Celebrate PLAY event at Children’s National Medical Center. We handed out over 300 free superhero SaMP capes and gave countless kids/parents in the hospital a chance to leave all the hurts and worries behind to PLAY and create memories together. This year were were fortunate enough to have Imagination Movers come out and the families loved every minute! Miss Libby (aka Mary Poppins) brought her bag of amazing crafts, and our friend Meredith sent books to give away from Books in the Barn!
I stood by the elevators to hand out capes as many families weren’t able to stop and enjoy the concert and crafts and I wanted them to be touched by my girls and their beautiful spirits as much as I could. For a Saturday the hospital was busy everyone from ER patients, to clinic kids and in patient families. I watched one little girl shyly slink off of the elevator and saw her face light up when she heard the music, she turned to her mom now bouncing and asked, “Mom, is this the doctor? This is fun!” After they got checked in her mom came over to tell me how worried her daughter had been and thanked me for changing their whole day from one of scary doctors to a place filled with joy. I cried with a grandmother who’s grandchild had been brought to the hospital not breathing but who the doctors were able to save from the brink, she shared how grateful she was to hear the music and see the happy kids and thanked us for the cape for her granchild who was an absolute superhero. I stood with a dad and listened about his son in hospice care and how he was just so glad we were there to help fill the long hard days. I gave capes and stickers to charge nurses and social workers who thanked us for helping to make their jobs easier…because a small gift can go a long way to help them do their job with a scared kid.
It was such an amazing day filled with so many emotions and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for all of our sponsors and donors for allowing us the opportunity to bring amazing programs like Celebrate PLAY to the kids at Children’s National Medical Center! Without your donations, without your dedication to our organization and our mission we could not hold amazing events like this one. Such an amazing feeling to watch these families make memories with their babies – to watch their kids play and not worry even if it’s just a few minutes out of their day. There’s absolutely nothing I would have rather been doing to do to honor my girls.
**Celebrate PLAY is a free PLAY event thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and donors. Sophie and Madigan’s Playground strives to keep the memory of the Sophie and Madigan Lillard alive by providing opportunities for families to PLAY LEARN and CREATE together in ways that reflect the girls personalities.**
