During Holiday Travels, Local Organizations Gather Donations for Care Kits
January 28, 2016
Families with children in the pediatric intensive care and pediatric intermediate intensive care units at Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital will have one less thing to worry about this year, thanks to “Care Kits” created by local woman Christy Sears—and a group of companies and nonprofits who provided items to fill the kits this holiday season.
Sears first had the idea to develop Care Kits—small bags of hotel-sized toiletries like toothpaste, deodorant, and shampoo—when she spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit with her own son in 2011. For several years, Sears has collected toiletries and organized them into hundreds of kits for families who often rush to the hospital with sick children (and without essential personal care items). Over time, her friends, family, and a Columbia, SC-based community service coalition have all joined in to provide her with thousands of items for the kits.
The following organizations collaborated to gather toiletries during the holiday drive hosted by the local community service coalition: South Carolina High School League; GWA, Inc. Electrical Engineers; The Protocol School of Washington; South Carolina Medical Association; South Carolina Endodontics; UnitedHealthcare; Columbia Conference Center; DuBose Web Group; Research Associates; and The Evaluation Group.
In February 2016, the community service coalition plans to adopt a firehouse and satellite station in the Irmo, SC area. They will be collecting snacks and notes of appreciation for the firefighters and staff, delivering lunch to the stations, and accepting monetary donations that they will pass along to the Irmo Fire Foundation. Individuals or organizations who would like to help may call Columbia Conference Center at 803-772-9811 or email [email protected] for more information.
