Neighbor News
NonProfit Donates Superhero Activity Boxes to Children's Hospital
Children's Hospital donation
For More Information:
Joni Downey
Characters of Character NFP
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P.O. Box 391
McHenry, IL 60050
Find out what's happening in Nashvillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
815-403-0217
NonProfit Continues to Help Children Feel Super While They Stay in the Hospital (seeking sponsors and donations)
(Nashville and East Tennessee) While the Characters of Character currently reside in Illinois, they are also a registered 501(c)(3) not for profit organization in Tennessee. The organization has been busy planting seeds as they relocate to plant their roots in the communities of Tennessee. Characters of Character has reached thousands of children, hundreds of communities, and families to help reinforce and teach our children vital core values. Not an easy task!
A few years ago, the Characters of Character were able to visit children’s hospitals to engage the children in positive activities with their characters. Warm-Hearted Walrus visited a Chicago area hospital and even got to bring Self-Esteem Elephant to Shriner’s Children Hospital in Chicago where Joni shared the important trait of Self-Esteem and confidence with Self-Esteem Elephant. The children painted on canvas, engaged in a discussion about self-esteem with three powerful words, ‘I LIKE ME’ just what the doctor ordered!
While discovering such a need for positive activities and an outpour of appreciations for the Superhero Activity Boxes, Characters of Character has reached out to quite a few Children’s Hospitals. One of which is the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, and the other is Monroe Carell Jr. at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. During the month of March, Joni held a fundraiser and was able to ship 20 boxes to both of these hospitals along with one in East Texas. Then, in April, the Nashville Predators Foundation informed the Characters of Character that their grant request was being honored! This will allow us to now ship 125 Superhero Activity Boxes to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital as well as the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.
This is what the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital has to say:
East Tennessee is so thankful for the wonderful donation of Characters of Character boxes!
When a child is hospitalized, they face a multitude of challenges throughout the process of their care.
These fun-filled boxes introduce lessons using playful activities and encourage the development of positive coping skills.
The development of these skills helps provide strength of character that will continue to benefit them throughout life.
What a positive impact for this growing generation!
Nicole Wenger, MS, CCLS
Child Life Specialist
The boxes are ordered for print and the materials that go inside are on their way to fulfill these Superhero Activity Boxes and gift them to the children. Joni was able to Zoom with the children in one of the hospitals to go over the contents of the box and then paint on the canvas that says, ‘I AM SUPER” and I for one can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon!
What Are Superhero Character Building Kits?
Characters of Character NFP, Inc. focuses on nine different character traits that we believe are essential for a child to develop and improve on at an early age. These nine traits are; behavior, perseverance, friendship, healthy habits, manners, respect, responsibility, self-esteem, and kindness.
Our Superhero Themed Character-Building Activity Kits not only encourage children be better citizens, but they also incorporate a positive and healthy way for children to express themselves through art. Including everything needed, from watercolor paints to their very own felt superhero mask, children are able to have a positive distraction and engaging activities to keep their minds busy, all while internalizing positive character attributes.
Why donations are more important than ever with Covid-19
Giving patients something to distract them from their hospital visit has always been important. No one wants to sit in a hospital room and have nothing to do except focus on the fact that they are in a hospital room. When the pandemic struck, even more restrictions were put on what was and wasn't allowed in hospitals. We recently found out that due to the pandemic sharing of toys is no longer allowed in most hospitals, common areas are not being utilized which means that children are confined to their rooms or limited to where they are able to visit, and many hospitals are no longer accepting certain toys such as stuffed animals due to not being able to clean them properly.
This is all the more reason that we are increasing our efforts to focus on donating our Superhero Character Building Kits to the children's hospitals and wards in Tennessee. After speaking with a few representatives from different hospitals we learned that Winter is a busy time of the year for the hospitals and we'd like to begin sending out these donations sooner rather than later. Our activity kits are easy to store, include everything the patient needs to complete the activities, and are for a single person to use. There is no exchanging of activities (though we hope they display their beautiful artwork for others to appreciate!) and each child gets their very own kit to keep in their room.
Even when the world goes back to ‘normal’ Characters of Character will continue to donate to Children’s Hospitals across America. We’re so excited to share these with Tennessee. Characters of Character has been planting seeds in Tennessee a few years ago, and they are now taking root! Here we GROW!
Donation Goal & Distribution Plan
Characters of Character NFP, Inc.'s goal is to donate each quarter of each year for as long as we’re here to empower our youth in these vital core values. Just another wonderful opportunity for our children to learn about these characters and allow the Characters of Character to reinforce to our children that they are SUPER!
Learn more on our website at
https://www.charactersofcharacter.org/tennessee.html
Feel free to reach out to joni@charactersofcharacter.org to learn more, to see how you can become a Sponsor or to donate, and how you can make a difference in the life of a child.
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