Creative Leisure News - Kate's Collage

Insights on business -- and life.

Beading Smiles

Helping sick kids through crafts.

by Staff Report (February 19, 2007)

Many people may not know or even think about what it is like to spend a day in the life of a sick child in hospital. When Maryann Corey was considering starting an art program for children, she thought about those hospitalized children, and has maintained that focus for the past five years with The Portable Playhouse Inc., a beading program run exclusively in hospitals.

Thanks to The Portable Playhouse, hospital-certified volunteers visit hospitals once a week to sit with children at their bedside and make beaded jewelry. Each child, regardless of his/her physical condition or limitations, is encouraged to participate in the design and creation of a beaded item. Working in their rooms one-on-one with each child, the volunteers create a fun, relaxed environment that reduces stress and gives the child a sense of empowerment, control, and choice.

Parents can grab a well-earned break while their child is engrossed in designing bracelets, necklaces, key chains, and other jewelry items. The child becomes so relaxed and completely unfocused on their illness as they choose colors and patterns. Each one becomes a jewelry designer, right there in their hospital bed. Smiles are the only payment accepted and once the bead box is open, these are not hard to come by!

The Portable Playhouse currently takes its beading program to nine hospitals in New Jersey, and many more hospitals have requested its program but await sponsorship. Maryann Corey, the co-founder and driving force behind the organization, has also been approached by women�s cancer treatment centers. The women love making jewelry, which helps to fill those long hours spent in hospital. Corey recently piloted a program at the Carol G Simon Cancer Center at Morristown Memorial Hospital and now that funding has been secured for the Center, the program went "live" there on Valentine�s day.

The Portable Playhouse's mission is to expand its services to all children�s hospitals and women�s centers across the country. As a nonprofit corporation, it is dependent on sponsoring organizations to support individual hospitals. A list of hospitals waiting for sponsorship is posted on The Portable Playhouse website www.theportableplayhouse.org.

Fundraisers are held throughout the year, and recently The Portable Playhouse held a Silent Auction at The Pop International Gallery in New York City. This fundraiser was successful in obtaining funds to sponsor two New York hospitals, St Luke�s and Mount Sinai. Fox 5 News, radio station Z100, and ABC News have featured The Portable Playhouse, which gave well-needed exposure to help recruit more volunteers and of course, attract much needed sponsorship. For more information, visit www.theportableplayhouse.org or call Maryann at 732-826-1392.

(Note: To read previous entries in Kate's Collage, click on the titles in the right-hand column.)

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