Once again, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is gearing up to distribute thousands of Valentine’s Day cards to its young patients who won’t be able to experience the joy of Valentine’s Day at home or at school because they are in the hospital.
The public can visit CHLA.org/Valentine and send a valentine that the hospital will then distribute to children on Friday, Feb. 13.
Last year, the hospital received more than 30,000 messages from 100 countries. Children received a special gift bag filled with cards and parents enjoyed them too!
Anyone can send a message to CHLA children. The hospital just asks them to choose one of three card designs and provide their first name, last name, email address and a message.
They can use the pre-populated message “Wishing you a very Happy Valentine’s Day!” or write in their own message.
There are also some ideas, including jokes like this one that are extra fun to receive:
Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Sherwood.
Sherwood who?
Sherwood like to be your valentine!
“One of the most important responsibilities we have is to bring a sense of normalcy to our patients,” says Wendi Kellaris, manager of the Volunteer Services Program, which assists in the distribution of the valentine’s cards to CHLA’s young patients. “There are so many things that a child in the hospital misses. When special events like Valentine’s Day come around and our patients see that they are getting valentine’s, just like their friends, they are absolutely thrilled. The valentines themselves are a wonderful surprise but then to learn that people outside these walls sent them because they care about them. That is sometimes the best surprise of all.”
