New toys for kids at hospital

A Penticton woman was inspired to start a campaign to give kids in the Penticton Regional Hospital pediatrics ward more toys to play with while they recover, and says the response from the community has been amazing. 

Pascale-Ann Demers recently spent some time at the hospital with her toddler daughter. 

"My daughter had a tonsillectomy right after their COVID restrictions got lifted," Demers said. "She ended up being severely dehydrated after her surgery, so we ended up in the ER and then spent the weekend up in the pediatrics ward."

After her daughter was up and walking around during her recovery, her nurses encouraged them to check out the play room. 

"They have tons of things for older kids, video games and bigger puzzles, but when it came to toddler up to maybe six or seven, they had nothing," Demers said, adding what they did have was clearly very old and worn. 

Nurses told Demers that a lot of what was there was leftovers from other kids, like Happy Meal toys, leftovers from Easter baskets, and the like. 

"So I spoke to the nurses while I was there about what they thought the restrictions would be if we were to get them some new toys," Demers explained. "They told me they would need to be brand new and washable, so no rag dolls, no stuffed animals."

Demers couldn't afford to restock the room by herself, so she decided to reach out to the community to see if people would donate just a few dollars each with a goal of getting to $200, which she would spend on toys for the ward.

"I know GoFundMe pages have often been used in a dishonest, malicious way, so I made sure to come across as up front and honest, like you can go through my Facebook page, you can write my name down, I'm not worried because I'm doing this for the right reasons," Demers explained. 

She posted her GoFundMe on her personal page and it was then shared in local community groups, and said the response was immediate and overwhelming. Within 24 hours she had reached her $200 goal, with Murray's Pizza in Oliver donating $100 in cash and Big Box Outlet inviting her to pick out $100 worth of toys. 

The remainder of the cash donations were made up of small donors. 

"It's just regular people wanting to help kids," Demers said. "It makes me happy that Penticton is the place I chose to put my roots down and raise my kids."

She is planning to coordinate a drop-off plan for all the toys with the nurses in the pediatrics ward on Friday, once she confirms a scheduled time with the head nurse. 

"If money keeps coming in I am going to do more shopping trips and more drop-offs," Demers said. 

Find her GoFundMe here, and if people want to donate toys rather than cash, she can be reached on Facebook here.