On September 8th, 2008, the Arizona Ghostbusters were able to make their first visit to the Phoenix Children's Hospital. A children's hospital visit has always been our goal since we formed a few years ago. We were never sure of exactly who to talk to and had not had much success. As luck would have it, the individual who made the video for the Phoenix Heart Walk we were in back in March,was showing the video to the hospital staff in a meeting and they started asking him questions about us and got us in contact.

We visited several floors, on each floor we started in the playroom and then went to each room to visit the children who were not able to leave bed. There were certain areas of the hospital we were not able to take pictures in such as the playground and the patient rooms, however the staff was able to so the kids will still have a keepsake from the visit. Most of our pictures are from the playrooms and hallways and we also needed to get permission from the parents to use our photos. We wanted to do more than leave the children with just pictures of us, so we also had stickers made of our logo to give them and the parents. We also gave them some Real Ghostbusters coloring pages and puzzles from the Real Ghostbusters magazine, those thanks to GBI's Real Ghostbusters section, and crayons as well.

There was a great response from the children, the parents, and the staff. Some kids were very shy and others were very ecstatic. There were some very emotional moments because you certainly never want to see children in the hospital, but the parents and kids are some of the strongest people I have ever met and after meeting the staff, nurses, and doctors, I know these children are in good hands.

This was by far the greatest event we've done. It doesn't have the glamour of a big convention, but knowing that we made these kids forget about their troubles and lighten their day, if even for just a minute, made it mean the world to us. We're already planning our next visit and I certainly hope some other teams have the opportunity to do this.

The Hospital



The team outside the main entrance: Matt S, Matt H, Neal, and Jeff



Doing a Q+A with the parents and kids



Our stickers and coloring sheets



Jeff and Esther coloring Slimer, luckily we fit in the kids chairs



Matt S handing out some coloring pages



The team with some families









A potential new recruit trying out the PKE



A plethora of traps en route to a room visit



Heading out to the playground

Very cool guys. What a great outreach!

Thanks. We were afraid we'd never get to do something like this, but luckily everything fell into place. It was amazing.

Jeff, if I haven't already said this then I'll say it now, you guys are awesome.

That's really awesome of you guys to go out and do something like this. I'm sure it meant a lot to the kids.

It was great to see their faces light up.

Great stuff, more people should do stuff like this..

We've always hoped to show other teams they can participate in similiar events and make an impact in their community using their hobby. It's a shame to put so much work into your gear for it sit and collect dust most of the year. Why not use it for some good and have fun at the same time?

Pretty awesome! You guys have officially earned the right to not be considered geeks.

Thanks. I'll pass that on to the team. We want to put a real reason and cause behind going out in gear.