The days leading up to Halloween are always exciting for a child. Carving pumpkins, planning the perfect costume and thinking about how much candy they plan to take home with them after a long night of trick-or-treating are definitely cause for joy. Being in the hospital during this time, means a child can miss out on a few of the holiday activities they may be looking forward to. With the assistance of the SoCal Honda Dealers Helpful Honda Guys, Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach was able to bring Halloween to the hospital playroom.
Arriving with boxes full of decorations, pumpkins, costumes and craft supplies the Helpful Honda Guys made sure that patients at Miller Children’s enjoyed their special “Hondaween.” Dressed in their trademark blue polos and caps, the Helpful Honda Guys took over the hospital’s three playrooms and handed out glow-in-the-dark buckets, filled with toys to every patient they met. The Helpful Honda team even set up craft tables and pumpkin decorating stations where patients could let their artistic side take charge by creating unique Halloween decorations for their room.
“When our patients are in the hospital during the holiday’s we try our hardest to make sure they don’t miss out on
all of the fun activities they might enjoy outside of
Miller Children’s,” says Rita Goshert, manager,
Child Life Program, Miller Children’s. “With the help of the SoCal Honda Dealers Helpful Honda Guys, we are able to provide our patients with their very own Halloween experience, they might have otherwise missed out on.”
In addition to bringing Halloween to local children’s hospitals, the Helpful Honda Guys have been giving out complimentary pumpkins across SoCal, and pumping and paying for driver’s gasoline throughout the month of October. Since 2007, the Southern California Honda Dealers have made it their mission to help the community with everything from free gas and parking for Honda drivers, to hosting pet adoptions and feeding the homeless.