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For a year, Miami Palmetto High School rising senior Taima Khouri would go to the Holtz Children’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial Hospital to volunteer with oncology patients. She took art supplies such as canvases and paints, brushes and a speaker for music and hung out with the kids for the next two to three hours.
Depending on the visit, she’d spend time with a bunch of kids in the Child Life Room.
“If the kids were willing, a group of about five kids would gather in the room to work on art,” she says.
“Some patients were not feeling well, so I would go personally to each room and spend time with the patients. I would have to wear a mask.”
Volunteering with the kids is important to her because of prior experience of spending time in the hospital when she was younger. It made her more aware of the needs of children who have spent a lot of time in the hospital.
She continued until February 2025 when Jackson’s protocols changed, which required her project to change.
Khouri had originally named her project Crafts for Comfort, but with the changes at Jackson, the name is no longer suitable.
“Recently, I started working with Sofia’s Hope. I started distributing goodie bags. It’s an organization that helps oncology patients.”
Working with Sofia’s Hope ensures the children can still have access to the art supplies.
She conducted an art collection drive at school where she requested certain art supplies.
The response was good, and she says she got a ton of supplies which she put into goodie bags for the kids.
“Colored pencils, crayons, stickers, modeling clay, fidgeting toys, mini sketch books, mini coloring books and paints,” she says. “Each bag also had a handwritten letter that I wrote.
I made 30 that time. I plan to have one in the middle of the summer, around July and then a few times in the school year.”
“I took them to the Sofia’s Hope office where they distributed them to the patients undergoing treatments,” she says. “Art is something you can do so freely, it wasn’t just for certain kids. The goody bags always let them have an activity.”
She decided to continue to volunteer with oncology patients, so now she goes to Baptist Hospital. She started at the end of April.
“Baptist has a teen volunteer program,” she says.
She distributes self-care bags to adult oncology patients via bedside carts. While it’s a substantial change, she likes volunteering there.
“All the patients I’ve encounter have the best stories to tell,” she says.
At school, Khouri is a member of the student council senate working on the staff appreciation committee.
Her activities include being secretary of Psi Alpha, the psychology honor society. She’s the incoming president of Florida Future Educators of America (FFEA).
Her community service work earned her the Core Value Award at Palmetto, an award given to five junior students annually.
She is in FIA, a club for students in the Forensic Academy and is charge of managing the club’s social media platforms.
For college, she’s interested in attending the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the University of South Florida. Psychology and pre-med are on her list of majors. Her goal is to become an adolescent psychiatrist.
In the summer, Khouri is a camp counselor at the Holy Rosary/St. Richard Catholic Church summer camp. She teaches kindergarten to first grade children.
“I love it,” she says. “There are so many funny stories. They are tiring because they are energetic, but they are so sweet!”
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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