Dozens of volunteers stepped up to move precious cargo at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital Tuesday, unloading toy after toy after toy for young patients here. It's all organized by a former one: Faith Tremblay.
“It's amazing. It's magical, this really shows what the holiday is all about,” said Lisa Tremblay, Faith’s mom. She remembers being at the Children’s Hospital at this time three years ago.
“My daughter was upstairs fighting for her life,” said Tremblay. “We didn't know if she would leave here.”
They saw how the toys from Yale's Child Life Program helped keep their days normal and how the Toy Closet was an award at the end of their stay.
Faith and her family tell NBC Connecticut they wanted to give back and help stock up.
“At the end of the day, we can never say thanks enough because my daughter is still here,” said Tremblay.
Nearly 2,300 bikes, baseball gloves and more were sorted and stored in the toy closets for every child patient here at Yale year-round, thanks to Faith.
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“This was a great donation for us,” said Billye Bradley, who helps lead the Toy Closet Program and is Administrative Assistant to the Yale New Haven Hospital Auxiliary. “We were pretty low. People think that we only take toys at the holiday time and we don't, we need them all year long.”
Last year the hospital gave out 170,000 toys and said that was one check out gift to each child.
“I like to see them when they're in the lobby and they're going home and they have their toy, and they want to open it. I know that's what it's all about,” said Bradley.
If you'd like to make a donation to the Toy Closet Program, you can contact the Yale New Haven Hospital Auxiliary here.
