Shop at local Spirit Halloween stores to support the Mapp Child and Family Life Program
When you use the digital Spirit of Children coupon to save 10% at local stores, they give 10% back to support Children’s & Women’s Hospital
By Casandra Andrews
[email protected]
The annual Spirit of Children fundraiser is in full swing on the Gulf Coast to help raise money for Children’s & Women’s Hospital.
Here is how it works:
When you shop Spirit Halloween stores in the Mobile and Pensacola areas and use a digital coupon to earn 10% off, the store also makes a 10% donation to the region’s only hospital for children and women. If you shop online, you can support the hospital by using the promo code GIVING25 at checkout for the same 10% discount and donation.
Each year, local Spirit Halloween stores donate a portion of their sales through the Spirit of Children program to support the child and family life program at the hospital. The funds come from donations made by shoppers at Mobile- and Pensacola-area Spirit Halloween locations and on SpiritHalloween.com.
Since the program started, Spirit of Children has given $405,000 in total donations to Children’s & Women’s Hospital.
“We are so grateful for the generous support provided from Spirit of Children to our child life program,” said Kim Thompson-Yates, who leads the Mapp Child and Family Life Program at Children’s & Women’s Hospital. “This funding, in addition to annual donations of new costumes and other items, helps to make sure our patients and their families have positive experiences despite the challenging circumstances they may experience while hospitalized.”
USA Health’s child life specialists provide procedural preparation and support, therapeutic play and other therapeutic activities for pediatric patients receiving hospital and emergency department care. They strive to create a safe, supportive environment for children, their families, and caregivers as they manage the stress of a hospital visit.
In recent years, the Mapp Child and Family Life department has used the Spirit of Children donations to fund programs including Beads of Courage and sensory-friendly programming and equipment including tactile toys, light shows, and sound machines in the hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Center (PEC). Spirit of Children funds were also used to purchase a state-of-the-art mobile sensory station available to patients in a dedicated sensory room in the PEC.
