Beltway Bambinos

Join us in a community service activity to give a boost to Moms for Mother’s Day and to Dads for Father’s Day through Eliana’s Light. For the past few years, readers have generously donated items and participated in many ways to help families for Eliana’s Light and for that I sincerely thank you.

Eliana’s Light is organizing this annual community service activity to collect donations of gift cards (e.g., for a free cup of coffee, sandwich, nail service, exercise session, etc.) and self-care items (e.g., nice toiletries, foot massage rollers, lavender sachets, etc.) to help local moms and dads of children who have complex medical conditions and need to stay in the hospital over Mother’s Day and/or Father’s Day. These can be emotionally very challenging days for them and we want to make sure they know they are appreciated and loved. We welcome volunteers who can request and collect donations of gift certificates (e.g. that cover the cost of a coffee or meal from an easily-accessible coffee shop/restaurant) and/or other self-care items (e.g. foot massage rollers, toiletries, etc.) from local businesses and individuals for inclusion in the gift bags. All donations should be mailed by April 24th and you can email Whitney directly for the address.

Eliana’s Light combines all the gifts into gift bags that we deliver to our partner medical facilities: Children’s National Medical Center, The Children’s Inn at NIH, HSC’s Pediatric Center, The Kennedy Krieger Institute, John’s Hopkins’ Children’s Center, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, and Inova Children’s Hospital.  Please email Whitney if you’d like to volunteer. If you can’t volunteer but would like to make a donation to this effort, please donate here.  Click here for more details.