When going through a tough experience, there is nothing more important than knowing you have someone on your side who understands what you’re going through and can empathize with your fears, frustrations, and pains.

At the many children’s hospitals with which we have the privilege of working, we meet many of those special people. You may never hear their names in the news but every day they work tirelessly to encourage the hospitalized children under their care across the country. That is the role of the Child Life Specialist.

You might find these unsung heroes laughing as they sit on a hospital bed losing to a 9-year-old at a game of checkers. You might also see them teaching a child to put a bandaid on a stuffed bear to prepare them for the shots they’re about to receive. 

Child Life Specialists help children going through difficult situations feel better and better cope with the trauma they face in the hospital. They provide emotional, educational and physical support for children facing serious illness. They give comforting hugs to parents as they watch their little ones wheeled down the hall to surgery or to have the next MRI. They plan prom nights for those seniors in high school who can’t leave the hospital to attend their own. They make hard situations better.

Working alongside Child Life Specialists, we also meet talented and caring Creative Arts Therapists who we often see carrying guitars to use music therapy to help a nervous child ease their anxiety about a lengthy hospital stay. You could also look inside a playroom and see them gently guiding a recently repaired hand of a child as they paint on a canvas. This is so much more than playtime but children barely notice anything more than the fun these amazing men and women bring to therapy. 

We thank the incredible Child Life Specialists and Creative Arts Therapists who partner with us weekly in hospitals around the country getting the boxes in the hands of children who need a smile. We could not do it without their support. As they escort corporate teams around the hospital, we get to witness their incredible passion for the children and families they serve. They take the boxes and turn them into tools to help children in rehabilitation, recovery, or remission.

When companies sponsor Cheeriodical boxes and deliver them to children in the hospital, they are giving Child Life Specialists another tool to help them do what they do best. They are giving hospitalized children more than a box of toys; they are giving hospitals a tool to care for children.