No one wants to be in the hospital, especially over Christmas. Unfortunately, that’s the reality for some families.
DANVILLE, Pa. — With just days until Christmas, many of us are still shopping. But for parents of children in the hospital, Christmas shopping tends to be put on the back burner.
“When you’re in-patient, you probably can’t do Christmas shopping, so we want to alleviate that stress for these families,” said Rosemarie Lauck, a child life specialist at Geisinger.
Each year employees at Geisinger bring Christmas shopping to parents in the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital.
“For infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age kids, teens, and families can come shop for free of charge,” Lauck said.
Lauck says the toy shop serves at least 20 families a day. The hospital receives donations throughout the year, and this is where they go.
“Toys, crafts, games, stuffed animals, people come from all over Pennsylvania just to give, and it is so heartwarming to receive all of this.”
Families appreciate the toy shop. Colette Anderson of Williamsport is here with her 3-year-old daughter Mila.
“This was not what we were expecting to do our last week before Christmas.”
Colette and Mila might not be able to leave the hospital for Christmas, so Christmas came to them.
“They came up to my room yesterday and asked if I would like to come down to the gift shop to get her, her brother, and sister something. It’s so sweet, and it’s something that picked Mila up too.”
The staff at Geisinger says they would like to thank the people of northeastern and central Pennsylvania because most of these toys came from their donations.
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