Sunday, November 8, 2009

Toys!

We FINALLY found a chance to take all the toys donated for Gavin's birthday to the Cardon Children's Hospital at Banner Desert. First we got to take all the extra money donated and go on a WILD shopping spree! We had $250.00 left over after we paid for the wagon, and that wasn't including the check for $150 that was donated by Boomer the Dog (and his owners!) that went straight to the hospital!!! The kids thought that was pretty cool...but giving all the toys away afterwards was a little hard. ;)

Mindy, the childlife specialist we worked with, had sent us a wish list of the things they could use. The infants and toddlers sometimes get forgotten, so they don't get as much stuff donated for those ages. They can ALWAYS use items like portable dvd players, crib mobiles, white noise machines, bouncy seats, and exersaucers. So we tried to focus more on that age group with the money, since we already had a lot of school aged toys donated.

We bought a portable dvd player, some crib mobiles, a preschool computer game (also requested), a ride-on spinning zebra toy for the playroom, some clip-on crib toys that play music and light up, crinkle books, rattles, those little piano toys that have pop-up animals when you push the keys, a couple preschool aged board games, some ball poppers, teethers, battery-operated bubble blowers, books, and batteries (I bet they go through those pretty fast!). It was SO hard to restrain myself from buying MORE...we actually had to put some other stuff back because we went WAY over budget (we even ended up throwing in $100 of our own, too).

Mindy gave us a little tour after we put the toys and wagon in Andrea's Closet. We saw the Forever Young media room, which was SO COOL...Steve Young's Foundation donated over $1 million for it...it has a stage for celebs/groups to perform on, or the kids can make up their own plays & dances. There is even a video camera to record them! There is also a movie screen that drops down, and two huge screen TVs for movie nights, lots of chairs for the audience and room for crafts. I wish I had taken a picture of it! I can just imagine all the fun plays, dance groups, comedians, singers, etc that will be able to perform there for all the kids.

One FULL trunk!!!

Now one FULL wagon...
...plus 6 FULL bags...

...plus 3 FULL sets of hands!!!


The plaque on Gavin's Wagon, it says "In loving memory of Gavin Sprague"




heading to Andrea's Closet:
there's a giant chess set in the lobby:
and silver butterflies inlaid in the floor:

the ceilings are painted to look like the sky:

the new train area!

One of Gavin's favorite nurses came down to chat with us and get a picture!

I was so happy to be able to donate all those toys in honor of our little man. I talked to Mindy the next day and she said she had already opened tons of the toys for some of the babies who didn't have anyone to stay with them (it seriously breaks my heart to think of those little ones all alone with no one to hold and love them). She said they loved the toys! I can't wait until next year and I'm already thinking of new themes we can do. They are going to be opening a brand new outside play area in the next year, so we'll probably focus on that for Gavin's 3rd birthday!
Mindy said before we left "You have no idea how much this helps!" and I replied "Oh yes...we really do know. We know all too well." So thank you SO MUCH to everyone who donated! It meant so much to our family. I hope seeing all these pictures and knowing that the toys are being enjoyed is making you happy, too! Such small things can make such a HUGE difference to those who are in the hospital. It gives me SO MUCH happiness thinking of their days being a little easier and brighter because of these toys.

11 comments:

Melody B. said...

AWESOME!!!! I can't believe how much you were able to donate. So wonderful....really. Thank you for taking pictures so that we could all see how things went!

nancy said...

it was wonderful to be able to help celebrate gavin's birthday and to honor him in such a meaningful way.
thank you for the opportunity and for sharing all the photos!!

Mhari said...

That is such an awesome thing that you did. I'm so glad you were able to remember Gavin in a special way and touch the lives of so many other children and families. Much love to you and your family.

Staci said...

Thanks for sharing the pictures! That makes me happy to see-what a difference those toys will make to so many! I love the plaque you had made for the wagon too

Beads Bee Boutique said...

Way to go you guys! That's what it's all about. You really are keeping Gavin's memory in the best possible way :)

Becky said...

The new Cardon Center is way cool!! Your post made me a little emotional...what a great thing you did and so thoughtful!! I love that you engraved the wagon too!! Great job. I'm sure Gavin is very pleased!!!

Barrett, Melinda, Angel Trinity, and Baby Zander said...

YOU ROCK CHICKA!!! It's amazing the feeling you can get when these kinds of things are done in honor of our precious babies! WE LOVE YOU FOREVER ANGEL GAVIN!!!! Congrats on such a successful 2nd birthday for your little man! Love you!

P.S. I too wish we lived closer to eachother! I just know we'd be around eachother all the time, probably getting into trouble! ;o)~

Lacey.costner said...

wow, I can't believe all the awesome stuff ya'll donated. What a nice way to celebrate Gavin, and give back.

Pokagon Member said...

bozho (hello)
So sorry of your loss and I wish you well.

Rusty and Jacquie said...

bethany...i found out from my brother that you are friends or know his friend chenney. I found your blog from brittnay kunz's blog...we used to visit teach together in my home ward. I think you are apart of the lunch group that gets together so I look forward to meeting you.

Emily Ruth said...

I never commented to tell you how awesome this is! What a gift for all those children and families in need. Thank you for always being honest and helping others understand the grief process.
xoxo