As summer turns to fall, cooler weather and longer nights mean Halloween season is just around the corner. At Shriners Children’s Spokane, that’s a reason to celebrate.
Since 2007, Shriners Children’s Spokane has collaborated with Spirit Halloween to raise money for their child life and recreational therapy departments. During the season leading up to Halloween, shoppers at Spirit Halloween can donate at checkout or use a special coupon to donate 10% of their total. In 2024, local Spirit Halloween stores passed the $1,000,000 mark in donations to Shriners Children’s Spokane!
To celebrate the milestone, Spirit Halloween staff visited the hospital in February for a commemorative event, where the hospital’s administrator and the recreational therapy and philanthropy teams thanked them for their fundraising efforts.
The support of Spirit Halloween’s philanthropic program, Spirit of Children, is felt year-round. Money raised helps cover events around the hospital and provides toys and activities for patients. These resources help create positive experiences during what can be challenging medical treatments.
“Their motto is ‘making the hospital less scary for children’, which is what rec therapy and child life does. We do things in every part of the hospital to help kids feel more comfortable, more confident, and to understand what’s happening,” said recreational therapist Larissa Sims.
Every year, Shriners Children’s and Spirit Halloween come together in mid-October to throw an early Halloween party. Filled with candy, face painting and fun activities, patients and families get to pick out their costumes for the year from a huge assortment donated by Spirit Halloween.
This partnership has created lasting memories for patients, families and staff, and several families such as Patient Ambassador George’s attend every year. A Shriners Children’s Spokane patient since he was 10 days old, his family has attended every party since! George was also part of the February check presentation, wearing a skeleton onesie that he wears to nearly every Halloween party.
It is through meaningful collaborations such as these that help Shriners Children’s Spokane provide life-changing orthopedic care to patients that improves not only their physical health but their mental well-being as well.
