Being in a hospital is a scary and traumatic experience, especially for kids, but two Belen Jesuit Preparatory School students have found a way to help, and to get our community involved in the effort to ease the daily strain hospitalized children feel.
It all started when Belen senior Luke O’Flaherty, a volunteer at Nicklaus Children’s Hos-pital since his freshman year, noticed that gifts donated and stocked into the hospital toy closets during the holiday seasons, were quickly depleted. While volunteering, Luke had learned that gifts given to the children are actually “powerful tools in hospitals as they distract children from the realities they are facing, entertain them, and also keep the stress of off the parents and nurses who are trying to help them.” Luke O’Flaherty.
In the depleted toy closets, Luke saw an opportunity to help, founding Gifts4Kids, Inc., a non-profit charitable foundation that receives donations to buy small toys, puzzles, and art sup-plies used to help comfort and entertain the young children who are in the daunting environment of the hospital.
Not long after the official establishment of the company, and the creation of the website (www.gifts4kids.org), Sebastian Chamizo, another Belen Senior, joined the company as Vice President and began using his talent to market the non-profit. Sebastian decided to join the or-ganization, stating “I feel I can use my skills as a writer to both better society in doing as much as a I can in promoting donations to a reliable organization as well as better myself through constant writing and editing.”
Both students are working hard to bring gifts to the kids at the hospital now, and have a plan for Gifts4Kids well into the future, having selected a team of underclassmen to continue its legacy.
Donations to Gifts4Kids are accepted and encouraged year round, and can be submitted to the organization through its website, www.Gifts4Kids.org. There community members can also find more information on the company and its mission. 100% of donations made on the website are used to buy toys and gifts and are personally handed out to the kids by hospital vol-unteers like Luke O’Flaherty.
Gifts4Kids, Inc. is federally recognized under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) as a tax-exempt publicly supported charity, and organized under the state of Florida as a non-profit corporation. Take time to support your community, and the kids who are in need by donat-ing today.
For more information, visit online at https://www.gifts4kids.org/donate/ or call 786-581-0345.
