With Halloween upon us, this year’s holidays are going to start whizzing by us like they always do, and while we may be thinking about Halloween parties, Thanksgiving feasts, and picking out the right Christmas tree, many children in our communities are not going to be seeing much holiday entertainment this year due to illness, surgery, or rehabilitation.

That’s why this month we’re challenging our ambassadors to consider a media drive for their local children’s hospital. Your drive can be as simple as cleaning out your DVD collection or Blue-Ray stash, or as involved as including your neighborhood or school in the drive for donated media items.

So free up some space on your shelves, or make flyers and set up a box in your school’s office or classroom to grow your donations for a good cause.

Items needed Month’s Challenge:

1. Hospitals are always in need of DVDs for patients and their families to enjoy. Please no VHS or rated-R movies. Disney movies and new releases are always a huge bonus, but any media you’re not using will be much appreciated in a hospital setting.

How to do this Month’s Challenge

2. Go through your household’s collection of DVDs and decide as a family which DVDs you no longer watch or need.
3. If you want to extend your drive, make flyers for your school or neighborhood and designate a drop off location.
4. Have a parent or guardian help you coordinate drop off at a local hospital by calling first. The Child Life Services at the hospital should be able to assist.

Reflection Questions

1. What is your favorite movie and why?
2. Why do you think children in the hospital like watching movies?
3. Do you think it’s important that children in the hospital get to feel like children who are not in the hospital? How can we help them do this?
4. Was it hard parting with any of your DVDs?
5. How do you think the children at the hospital will feel when they get your movies?