We were asked once again to come to Hope (Advocate) Hospital and pass out books and toys to the children.
This was the 3rd annual Bugs Pals/Hope Children's hospital toy and book drive. As always we were a huge hit with the children, the families, and the staff.
We met at the front of the hospital and were escorted back to a conferance room that was to be ours for changing and totes while there. Once again Dan, the founder of Bugs Pals, had food and drink for us that was graciously donated by his sister's company. After everyone was there, and grabbed a quick bite, we were broken into groups and hit the floors. We had 1 or 2 staff members with us who would get a selection of books ready, make sure it was ok with parents or the children themselves, and have us pass out the goodies to the patients. As always we knocked it out of the park and were a huge hit.
Once we had hit all the rooms, we down to some waiting rooms and handed out cards and books to them as well.
Afterward, we made a detour to the imageing dept. in the main hospital, where Darth Maul got to impress the Department staff with what he does when he's not working on their equipment.
We then headed outside to the garden area just outside Hope, where there is a bench donated in memory of Dan's daughter Natlie. We gathered around the bench for the group shot, and then suited down to depart.
I have been told by Dan, that he is going to pass my information to the Director, so she can contact me direct. Although Dan is very excited and happy we do this wonderful troop in the memory of his daughter, it puts a lot of emotional strain and stress on him and his family. He wants us to be able to do this troop, even if in the future, he's just not up for it anymore. Also, we will have the ability to get there in cases of terminally ill patients or even the possibilty of doing this more then once a year. This speaks volumes on our conduct in the hospital. We've had almost entirely new groups of troopers at the events all 3 years and we have all conducted ourselves as true proffesinals.
Every troop means a lot to me. I have fun doing what we do, and bring smiles to everyone, myself included. But this troop will always be the most special for me because of all those happy faces, be it smiles or gleams in the eyes, the patients get a moment to not think about anything else, but Star Wars, Darth Vader, Chewie, Princess Leia, and that is truely a wonderful thing.
Thanks to everyone who came out for this event.
Attendees:
Steve, 7345 - TK coordinator
Aaron, 2875 - Darth Vader
Ted, 36285 - Darth Maul
Jose, 19800 - Shadow Trooper
Dave, 12155 - TK
Robert, 5206 - Cmdr. Cody
Kim, 8934 - Mara Jade
Destiny, 6216 - Bespin Leia
Ed, 4438 - Tie Pilot
Patrick, Dogg - Chewbacca (RL)
10 troopers X 3hrs = 30hrs
I will have to get with Dan to see if he has a accurate count on books donated.
slideshow link: http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Midwe ... ens%20Hosp
Thanks again everyone! Fantastic job
