When she died at age four, her grieving 7 year old sister Kayla wanted to take on a project that would honor Rosie, and help the many children who were patients at Helen Devos Children's hospital in Grand Rapids Michigan.
One of the few things her sister loved about being in the hospital were special bandages that the nurses would allow her to choose whenever she was "poked." Sometimes they'd bring one for her doll as well. These bandages featured cartoon characters, sparkles and other fun designs, and were purchased by the nurses. (Typically hospitals only use the standard brown type unless otherwise donated.)
Kayla determined to try to gather 1,000 boxes of bandages to donate to the hospital within a month. With the help of family, friends, local businesses and the local community, Kayla had exceeded and more than tripled her goal in six weeks. Now the community is continuing to collect to help other hospitals. A few bandage companies also heard about the bandage drive and mailed bandages to Kaylas house. Some of the businesses that had a late start with collections asked to keep the drive going an additional month. Any bandages received that month would start to be distributed to other area hospitals.
Our goal is to encourage anyone hearing about this wonderful story to honor someone you love by starting a Bandages for Rosie drive in your community and local hospital. This is a wonderful lesson in philanthropy and giving that is easily accomplished by individuals, schools, organizations... everyone can help.
Bandages can be purchased anywhere from $1.00 to $5..00 a box, with the average bandage at about 2.00 a box. Very special and unique bandages typically range 3.00 to 5.00 a box. Bandages are lightweight, easy to store, and extremely economical to purchase, so everyone can be involved in giving. Click here to help purchase Bandages. You can also visit the Bandages for Rosie Facebook page.
If you would like to help out this awesome charity, please do what you can. They currently need 900 boxes of children's bandages to meet their goal for St. Judes. They are happy to take bandages or cash / credit card donations to purchase at a discount via the paypal link at bandagesforrosie.com. Kayla is also hoping to inspire others to hold similar drives to benefit hospitals in their communities - think about it... is this something you can do? Turning frowns upside down.... one happy bandage at a time!
Kayla, you inspire all of us!!
Source: Bandages for Rosie
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