Gratitude, joy and a big dose of silliness elicit smiles from patients and their families during CHoR’s second annual Thanksgiving parade.
You don’t need to be on the streets of New York to find holiday cheer this week. Our second annual Thanksgiving parade brought all the fun directly to our patients.
It was double the size as last year with even more creativity. Not only that, the guest list was impressive: Mario and Luigi, Anna and Elsa, Big Bird and Bluey, and even SpongeBob SquarePants were among the high profile visitors going room to room, spreading joy and passing out little gifts in our Children’s Tower. Every single participant was so happy to be there and the companies behind the floats and their characters came together to make it happen.
“Our preparations were a full-team effort. From design to logistics to construction,” explained Meredith Herrera, with Spurrier Group, a locally owned, woman-run ad agency. Employees there lovingly built the Frozen float with a 7-foot Sven and giant ice replicas. They also participated last year. “We’ve been supporting CHoR for 4 years now and even the crew that couldn’t be here today definitely wanted to be a part of making the float.”
Child life and Children’s Hospital Foundation work together to make magic
Our child life specialists collaborated with Children’s Hospital Foundation to recruit supporters to take part.
In addition to Spurrier Group and their Frozen float, Capital Square presented Bluey, Davenport and Company brought SpongeBob, LEGO built the Pixar Up house, Mustaches 4 Kids were very appropriately Mario and Luigi (aka as Dr. Daniel Cannone and our pharmacy manager Chris Bowling), Synergy Technical brought Sesame Street characters and Virginia Credit Union brought Lilo and Stitch.
We also got a glimpse “Under the Sea” courtesy of Connor’s Heroes, Ronald McDonald House brought magical unicorns, Children’s Hospital Foundation brought a small carnival float, CHoR teachers built a school bus float and the force was definitely with us because Virginia Moose Association brought the Millennium Falcon. 
"We get to invite all these wonderful companies who, throughout the year, are investing in the mission here at the hospital,” said Rachel Bruni, executive
director of corporate partnerships for the foundation. “They’re doing lots of volunteer activities throughout the year just to bring joy and happiness to the families that are here. For something as special as the Thanksgiving holiday, they bring joy right to the patients’ bedside as they’re receiving care.”Being away from home and in the hospital
Our patients and families are so appreciative. Jasmine Haines has spent many holidays in the hospital with her son Miles and could not be more grateful for events like the parade.
“They are amazing. I just love how they bring so much happiness to our day. It makes it seem like we’re at Disney World and not at the hospital,” Jasmine shared.
The halls of our hospital weren’t just the parade route. They set the scene for a very friendly competition. Patients voted for their favorite floats in the categories of most creative, funniest and most entertaining. And bringing the fun is what it’s all about.
“Being in the hospital is obviously really difficult being away from home,” said Emma Heinze, our Child Life Zone coordinator. “But being in an unfamiliar environment during the holidays is an extra challenge for both the patient and the entire family. Things like this just help to bring some of that holiday magic back to the hospital experience.”
The parade has been a goal for child life manager Bethany Fisackerly Burns since she started working at CHoR and the second year of the tradition lived up to her very high expectations.
“This is exactly what I hoped would happen, shared Fisackerly Burns. “And I can’t wait to see what they come up with next year.”
Read about our Child Life Zone and discover more about how child life cares for kids at CHoR.
