During the week of March 10-14, thirteen college students from the University of North Carolina came to Project Sunshine's national office for their Alternative Spring Break trip.

The students were able to do A LOT in very little time. The group made over 300 Craft Kits and volunteered at four pediatric medical facilities. They started the week off at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn doing crafts and a Polaroid picture activity. Next, they brought our "Star for the Day" program to The Ronald McDonald House, and facilitated a "Sunshine Chefs" program at The Henry Street Settlement.

For their final project, they headed to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx where they made crafts and played games with children on several pediatric inpatient units. The group was incredibly enthusiastic and the Alternative Spring Break went off without a hitch!

For more information on Project Sunshine's College Chapters, please contact Elizabeth.

 

Shalom! Please join us in welcoming Project Sunshine to Israel!

In February, thirty Project Sunshine volunteers came together to bring programs to hospitalized children at Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petach Tikvah, Israel. Every Friday morning volunteers bring arts and crafts, book buddies and special holiday celebrations to hospitalized children and their families.

This has been a particularly rewarding experience for chapter leader Yuval Passov, "The goal of the project is to give the hospitalized children the opportunity to play and be children, and forget if only for a few hours, about their daily hospital routine. It feels amazing! I feel huge satisfaction being there, putting my daily routine aside and giving from myself. It's so easy to see when the kids lose the cheerless attitude and start smiling back at you. They remember your name, and in the end of the day you really feel GOOD."

For more information on Project Sunshine Israel please contact the Chapter Leader, Yuval Passov.

 

Quemuel Arroyo, an ambitious, courageous, and impressive 18-year-old, cannot wait to go to college! Quemuel is a patient at NYU's Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine and a friend of Project Sunshine. "I am most looking forward to college life and new beginnings," says Quemuel, who is off to start his freshman year at New York University in the fall.

Project Sunshine has spent quite a bit of time with this recent graduate from Baldwin High School, a small Manhattan public school that partners with Outward Bound, over the past several months. In addition to getting to know Project Sunshine volunteers during ongoing programs at RUSK, Quemuel states he was particularly excited about Project Sunshine's St. Patrick's Day party which brought the popular hip-hop radio station HOT 97 to the facility. "Meeting HOT 97 was cool and I loved telling my friends about it," Quemuel continues, "Project Sunshine just brightens up my day - I can still have a good time and am not deprived of fun."

In addition, Project Sunshine helped connect Quemuel with The ChairScholars Foundation, a nonprofit organization that granted Quemuel a partial scholarship to NYU which he is very grateful for receiving. Quemuel looks forward to becoming a better swimmer and aspires to make a career as a Financial Advisor for Merrill Lynch. We think he will do an AMAZING job! For more information on our programs, click here.

Emmis Communications and Project Sunshine co-hosted an amazing musically themed event as part of our corporate partnership. Rick Cummings, the President of the Radio Division at Emmis Communications, and the honoree of our upcoming Gala, decorated musical instruments and other craft activities with the children of Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital on March 21st.

Tiffany Evans, a Columbia Records recording artist, performed for the kids, and the 101.9 Street Team provided the soundtrack for the afternoon while Miss Universe Riyo Mori lent her sash and crown to many eager children.

Project Sunshine is thrilled about our growing partnership with Emmis Communications and is pleased to announce its newest volunteer chapter will soon be participating in Austin, TX.  For more information about our Gala honoring Rick Cummings, click here.