Remembering Kids in Hospice

The Quota club of Norfolk-Hampton Roads, Virginia, U.S.A., remembers kids in hospice care during the holiday season. The annual Christmas party at Edmarc, a local hospice center, is a club favorite!

Quota volunteers step into action at a church hall, decorating tables and setting up activities. The club organizes volunteers from a local high school's student council to help seat the families, serve dinner, and entertain the children with games and activities—"Pin the Nose on Rudolph," face painting by "elves," coloring, reading aloud, and songs.

When families finish spaghetti dinner and ice cream sundaes, Santa arrives to hear the children's Christmas wishes. The club provides gifts, purchased and wrapped by members, for Santa to give each child. In addition, each child receives a Polaroid photo of his or her visit with Santa, tucked inside a lovely photo folder created for the occasion by a club member.

"All members are involved in some way," adds organizer Mary Beers. "This is one of the most rewarding things we have been involved in that I can remember."

A few remaining gifts, unclaimed after the event, made other special children happy, too. Mary discovered a few families who had "fallen between the cracks" at her school and spread Quota Christmas cheer with them—one family whose home had been burglarized and all their Christmas presents stolen; a family whose child was diagnosed with cancer; and a family that wasn't going to have Christmas without the help of Quota volunteers in action.