A Small Toy for a Long Day
Hospitals are hard on everyone. They're harder when you're two.
A toddler in a hospital bed doesn't understand the beeping, the bright lights, or why strangers keep coming in. They can't always tell you what hurts. They just know they want to go home. Sitting right next to them is a parent who hasn't slept, doing their best to hold it together.
That's who we're thinking about this month. The Give Happy Foundation is partnering with Sunrise Children's Hospital for our first-ever Toddler Toy Drive. From November 1 through 10, we're collecting new toys for the hospital's youngest patients.
Where the Toys Go
The Give Happy Foundation has supported Once Upon A Room through volunteering and through grants that fund their mission. Through that work, we've seen firsthand how much hospitalized kids rely on Child Life Specialists. Gabby, a Child Life Specialist at Sunrise Children's Hospital, describes the job like this:
As a Child Life Specialist, my role is to help children and families cope with the stress, fear, and uncertainty that can come with hospitalization. I provide emotional support (grief/loss), prepare children for medical procedures and surgeries, and use therapeutic play to help them understand their experiences in a developmentally appropriate way. One of the biggest parts of my job is bringing a sense of normalcy and joy to children during some of their most difficult moments.
Gabby, Child Life Specialist, Sunrise Children's Hospital
That's where a toy comes in. In a Child Life Specialist's hands, a play doctor kit helps a three-year-old understand what's about to happen. A light-up music toy turns a long afternoon into something closer to normal. A toy doesn't fix anything medical. It gives a scared little kid something to reach for, and it gives the people caring for them one more way to help.
And when a toddler laughs, the parent breathes. That counts too.
We picked toddlers on purpose. The littlest patients have the fewest words for what they're going through. When Sunrise shared their wish list, it was full of simple things. Rattles. Stacking toys. Shape sorters. Light-up music toys. The ordinary stuff that makes a two-year-old's day.
Neighbors Who Said Yes
This drive happens because three local businesses opened their doors. Exhibit Happy by Steelhead, Elevate Real Estate Group, and First Choice Insurance are each serving as a drop-off location, collecting toys at their offices in southwest Las Vegas and Henderson.
That's what Give Happy is built on. Local companies showing up for the city they work in, together, in ways that are simple and steady. No gala. No big production. Just a box by the front desk and a team that cares enough to fill it.
Thank you to all three. And thank you to every person who walks in with a toy.
How to Give
Bring or send a new toy to any of our three partner locations by Tuesday, November 10. Drop-off hours are Monday through Friday, 9am to 4pm. All donations must be new. If you're shipping, address it c/o The Give Happy Foundation.
Exhibit Happy by Steelhead: 7120 S Buffalo Dr, Ste 100, Las Vegas, NV 89113
Elevate Real Estate Group: 6325 S Jones Blvd, Ste 500, Las Vegas, NV 89118
First Choice Insurance: 2471 W Horizon Ridge Pkwy, Ste 120, Henderson, NV 89052
Not sure what to buy? Here's what Sunrise Children's Hospital told us they need.
Most needed: infant and toddler toys, light-up music toys, Legos, Barbies, Playdough, light spinners, and rattles.
Infants and toddlers: light-up crib aquariums, link rings, teething rings and toys, mobiles (plastic only), rattles, cleanable play mats, light-up and music toys, stackers, the LeapFrog 100 Words book, Oball toys, shape sorters, pop-up toys, and Mega Blocks.
Preschool and younger: well-known action figures, Duplo blocks, Little People, large plastic dinosaurs and animals, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads, tea sets, Bluey toys, play food sets, Magnet Tiles, Tonka trucks, musical toys like drums, pianos, and guitars, baby dolls, and play doctor toys.
Every Gift Counts
You don't have to do something big to make a difference. One toy, picked out with a little one in mind, is enough.
Grab one this week. Drop it off on your lunch break. Bring your kids and let them choose it. Then tell a friend. Every gift is a little way to Give Happy.