MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Representatives from Spirit Halloween costume retail stores recently presented the WVU Medicine Children’s Child Life Program with a check for $89,180, which was donated by store customers last fall.
Funds raised help provide non-medical treatment and healing play. The most recent donation will be used to offset Child Life Program salaries and to purchase sensory items for the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit Playroom in the new WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital.
“The purpose of our Child Life Program is to help patients and their families cope with the stressors and uncertainties that often come with being hospitalized,” Christine Haufe, R.N., B.S.N., manager of children’s specialty services, said. “With the help of Spirit Halloween, we are able to create an environment that supports a patient’s individual needs. By providing sensory items, such as fidget toys, weighted blankets, wrap around massagers, and textured items, we create a diversion while promoting a sense of control, comfort, and normalcy.”
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 $590,492 for WVU Medicine Children’s. Nationwide, Spirit Halloween team members collected $12.4 million in 2020.
“I knew that our amazing Spirit Halloween store teams across West Virginia would give 100 percent to really engage their communities to get Spirit of Children donations, but I was a little apprehensive given how tough 2020 was for so many people,” Dan Hofecker, Spirit Halloween’s zone regional manager for Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, said. “I’m thrilled to say that my doubts were proven to be wrong. Our teams and customers came through with passion and generosity. Now more than ever, 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.”
For more information on WVU Medicine Children’s, visit Childrens.WVUMedicine.org.