Our first stop of the morning was at Phoenix Children's Hospital. This was actually our 3rd visit to this hospital. We stopped by the outpatient wing and set up the toys in a meeting room. Children came in one at a time to pick out their toys. If they didn't find something they liked we gave them a gift card.
Our second stop was at Cardon's Children's Medical Center. At this hospital we set up the toys and a Christmas tree in the playroom. Here the children were told we were coming ahead of time so the were coming out of their rooms and followed us to the room or were already there anxiously waiting for us.
I have too many stories to tell from these visits. We look forward to these visits all year round. They are both the greatest and hardest events we do each year. It is so unbelievably hard to see children in the hospital at any time of the year, but especially during the holidays. We all had emotional moments, I choked back tears several times, but you realize that while some of these children are in going through alot, you really are brightening up their day, if even for a moment, and that's why we were there and that's what we did. I can't express what a great feeling that is. We worked hard to collect these toys and we got to see a happy kids walk away with them. We'd like to thank the hospitals and the Children's Cancer Network for allowing us to make these visits.
I'll warn you now, in some of these pics we're all looking at totally different cameras.
