Mission
At the heart of Spirit Halloween is the Spirit of Children program, which is devoted to bringing the fun, imagination and fantasy of Halloween to children in hospitals and rehabilitation centers across the United States. The program also raises money at the store level through customer donations for the child life departments at local participating pediatric centers.
About Spirit of Children
In 2006, Spirit Halloween launched the Spirit of Children program to support and thank the surrounding communities who have been and continue to support Spirit. By bringing the outside world into hospitals and providing costumes, decorations and accessories and participating in activities such as pumpkin painting and costume parades, pediatric patients can experience the fun and fantasy of Halloween. During its inaugural year, Spirit Halloween hosted Halloween events in 11 children’s hospitals and rehabilitation centers across the country.
For the 2007 season, Spirit Halloween expanded its reach and hosted Halloween events in 34 children’s hospitals and rehabilitation centers across the United States. In addition to hosting these events, Spirit collected donations from customers at local Spirit-owned specialty stores and raised more than $250,000 in cash and merchandise donations. 100% of the money collected and items purchased for the events were donated to the child life departments within the hospitals participating in the Spirit of Children program. Child life departments seek to improve the experience for patients in pediatric centers. Items ranging from flat screen TV’s, DVD players, DVDs, video games, CDs, computers, entertainment centers, baby seats, games and more were purchased with the money raised by Spirit of Children.
Spirit of Children Today
Now entering its third year, plans for 2008 include hosting 50 Spirit of Children events and raising over $500,000 for Child Life Departments within the various hospitals and pediatric centers to ensure that for each child’s stay there are more activities and the children are as comfortable as possible.
Program Information
For more information regarding the program, contact Heather Golin at 609-645-5575 or heather.golin@spencergifts.com
2008 Spirit of Children Participating Hospitals
The Spirit of Children program is a huge success. Please click on the links below to read participating hospital comments and media coverage.
Thank You Letters
Read a sampling of the Thank You letters we've received from the children and hospitals who participated in the 2007 program expressing their excitement and gratitude.
2007
2006
Newspaper Clippings
Flip through pages of stories describing Spirit of Children Day and how it affected local communities. Also contains pictures of special moments between the kids and the Spirit Volunteers.
2007
2006
Television Clips
Watch clips and news broadcasts as Spirit of Children brightens up the day for kids all over the US.
2007
2006