Helpers: Charlotte Hull and Lucy Hewitt
Lucy Hewitt (left) and Charlotte Hull are accepting orders for Rice Krispie treats to raise funds for their SacksForSibs project through May 19. Photo: Dianne Hull
Being a kid during a pandemic is hard. Being a kid who has a sibling in the hospital during a pandemic is even harder. Not only are those kids worried about their siblings’ health, but, due to Covid, they cannot visit them. And their parents may be away from home for weeks or months at a time staying with the sick child at the hospital. To offer these siblings a little bit of happiness, we — Strath Haven Middle School eighth-graders Charlotte Hull and Lucy Hewitt — created SacksForSibs, a charity that makes gift bags for the siblings of children at Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware.
In January, we coordinated with the Child Life Services department at the hospital and decided to kick off our project by making gift bags for four children who had siblings either in the neonatal intensive care unit or the oncology wing. Even making a small number of bags took a lot of planning and coordinating. But it was worth it to imagine how thrilled each child would be when they received their gift bag. At the beginning of February, we filled the bags with toys, games, books, and other items — and the hospital’s Child Life Services team delivered them.
Next, we decided to start a fundraiser to support our project by baking and selling cookies. We expected to receive about 10 orders, but demand for our cookies was so high that we had to stop accepting new orders after only two days. For two weekends straight, we baked, packaged, and delivered over 500 cookies, and collected over $600 towards our next round of bags.
Most recently, we delivered about 50 bags to over 24 children. (We often have so many items to give that we need to use more than one bag per child.) We are currently raising funds by making and selling Rice Krispie treats — through Wednesday, May 19.
If you are interested in learning more about SacksForSibs, making a donation, or ordering our homemade treats, go here. You can also email us at sacksforsibs@gmail.com or follow us on Instagram or Facebook. We are so grateful for the progress we have made and for all the people who have helped us with the project!
