SERVING UP SMILES THE NEW YORK WAY
Every day, enCourage Kids Foundation (EKF) works to humanize healthcare for children in hospitals. They partner with more than 300 pediatric facilities across the country, providing a robust and diverse menu of programming that allows us to give our hospital partners critical support for the kids and families in their care. Battling a serious illness or coping with an unexpected diagnosis is often an unbearable challenge. Every child’s needs are different, and their programs are special and valuable not only for the patients but also for the caretakers. They fill in the gaps, funding projects and programs not covered by normal hospital budgets, particularly in communities most impacted by health disparities. They’re committed to investing in hospitals with fewer resources and ensuring they and their patients have access to high-quality resources and tools. I had the chance to attend the enCourage Kids Serving Up Smiles event and catch up with Jean Butler, President & CEO of the organization.
“For nearly years, enCourage Kids has invested more than 50 million dollars to help medically challenged kids, their families, and hospitals. Through the Jay Anderson Pediatric Hospital Support Fund, we’ve funded nearly 900 projects in hospitals across the country including those you mentioned, many of which would not be funded at all if not for enCourage Kids. We look for and support innovative programs and technologies that are not only useful now but will have far-reaching impact. These include comfort kits filled with games, activity books and personal items to help kids get acclimated to their hospital stay, tablets with customized apps child life specialists use to teach kids about their illness or to distract them during painful procedures, renovations of play spaces and treatment rooms to make them more child-friendly, support groups that provide safe spaces where kids can talk to other kids who are experiencing the same emotional highs and lows of living with chronic illness, and creative therapies that allow kids to express their feelings and struggles in ways they may not otherwise be able to.”
“For the past two years, through our Jay Anderson Pediatric Hospital Support Fund we’ve been able to award $500,000 in grants to more than 30 pediatric hospitals nationwide. I was delighted to be able to visit some of the hospitals this year to see firsthand the impact that our support has had on their patients, meet the extraordinary people involved with patient care, and glean information about what their needs are for the future. One of the highlights was meeting some of the Pet Therapy dogs enCourage Kids has funded and hearing about the vital role they play in the healing process. Seeing the programs we fund in action and meeting some of the patients, caregivers and staff directly impacted by enCourage Kids’ support helps us to better understand the needs of our hospital partners and assess what more we can do to meet those needs.”
“This year, we partnered with FAO Schwarz to create a brand new and enhanced Teddy! One of my priorities since joining EKF was to build strategic partnerships in the corporate sector which would allow us to expand our programming. As an iconic and world-renowned toy brand known for their high-quality bears, FAO Schwarz was a natural fit when looking for a partner to take our SendA Smile, Send A Bear Program to the next level. Together, we created a beautiful new Bear which will comfort children in hospitals nationwide. Our bears are wrapped in plastic to comply with hygiene protocols, and they not only serve as a cuddly companion during difficult times, but we’ve learned that child life specialists use our bears to demonstrate procedures like inserting an IV or taking a blood pressure reading. Once the kids see Teddy getting an IV, they become a little less apprehensive about getting one themselves. It’s truly a transformative program with a far-reaching impact.”
“Serving Up Smiles has grown to be one of our most anticipated events, with food from some of the best chefs and restaurants the city has to offer along with samplings from excellent wineries and delicious handcrafted cocktails. This year we celebrated our 10thAnniversary of the event at the beautiful waterfront venue, Current at Chelsea Piers, and it did not disappoint! We knew the event was going to be special, but the food, beverages, music and esprit de corps exceeded my expectations. Chef Glenn Rolnick, Director of Culinary Operations of Alicart Restaurant Group, served as our Culinary Chair this year, and we were fortunate to have both of Alicart’s iconic NYC restaurants participating, Carmine’s and Virgil’s BBQ. We had several returning favorites including Bryant Park Grill, Hunt & Fish Club, Ocean Prime, Sfoglia and The Curry Blossom, and some wonderful new additions including Sushi Yolo and Artichoke Basille’s Pizza. DJ CHEF played an amazing set that provided a perfect backdrop to a night of fun, food and cocktails! We had an incredible event committee that helped secure a very robust lineup of items for this year’s auction, which included over 100 items offering a variety of one-of-a-kind experiences, valuable sports memorabilia, gift cards and dining experiences at some of NYC’s best restaurants, hotel stays and travel packages, golf foursomes—the auction truly had something to whet everyone’s appetite! We are so grateful for all the restaurants and beverage purveyors who participated this year. Without their support, the event is simply not possible.”
“We are so grateful for the support of Marvin Washington, Boyd Melson and Tony Richardson. They have the biggest hearts! enCourage Kids is very thankful for all the celebrities that attended Serving Up Smiles this year. Tony Richardson has been a Celebrity Ambassador for several years now. He’s helped us distribute toys and teddy bears at city hospitals, and we look forward to engaging him and all of our celebrity ambassadors in more toy distributions and other hospital visits and events in the future. Boyd Melson is a retired champion boxer who enthusiastically embraced our mission. Marvin Washington is an NFL veteran who deeply cares about issues affecting children, and it was wonderful to have him there.”
“We were so thrilled to have the legends of the Elvis Duran and The Morning Show attend! Elvis Duran, Danielle Monaro, and Skeery Jones are true NY icons, and they brought an incredible amount of energy and fun to the event, particularly during our call-to-action where they engaged the crowd in a bidding frenzy that helped us reach our Mission Moment fundraising goal. We are so fortunate to have such generous and dedicated people affiliated with our organization. We are so grateful to our Culinary Chair, Chef Glenn Rolnick of Carmine’s and Virgil’s fame, for inviting them.”
“There are many ways your readers can support enCourage Kids and help us to expand our reach and impact even more sick children! Also, encourage people to support us in other ways that may be more in line with their resources and networks. One of the best ways you can support an organization–and this is something people don’t often think about—is to help raise awareness of the work they do. We are always looking for ambassadors to promote us on their social media or direct their friends, family, coworkers to visit our site and learn more about or attend our events. Leveraging connections in support of an organization could be incredibly helpful. Connections to celebrities, corporations or foundation grants, or introductions to organizations that can donate in-kind goods or services can have a lasting and significant impact on an organization’s fundraising efforts and programming reach. People can also organize third-party fundraisers such as Jeans Days, Bowl-a-thons, Trivia and Movie Nights, or Happy Hours, with proceeds benefitting enCourage Kids. We partner with more than 300 pediatric facilities nationwide, so there are many opportunities for donors to provide support within their local communities through our programs.
encourage-kids.org
