Spreading Thanksgiving Cheer with a Thanksgiving Meal Spread

Between prepping, cooking, cleaning and entertaining, Thanksgiving sometimes turns into a high-stress holiday rather than a time for giving thanks. This time of year is already stressful for families at University of Maryland Children’s Hospital (UMCH), who spend the holidays at the hospital instead of at home. Members from the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club in Stevensville, Md. donated a Thanksgiving meal to all UMCH patients, families and staff members, to take one thing off of their plates for the holidays. Amanda Ackermann, a first year Child Life graduate student at Towson University and a Child Life Scholar at UMCH, coordinated the donation. As part of her Child Life Scholar field study, she spends 20 hours a week providing and supervising developmentally appropriate activities for patients. She also organizes special events, implements new programming and manages donations. Amanda (third from right) and the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club team Amanda is also a banquet server at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club, and she thought it was only natural to bring her two jobs together. “I brought up the idea of giving back to the UMCH families, and the general manager, Dereck, was instantly on board to help,” Amanda said. The initial idea, to donate homemade pies, grew into a full Thanksgiving meal. After putting in months of planning for the meal, the team decided they wanted to do even more! The entire management staff donated toys for all ages, which were distributed to children wi...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Tags: Kids Chesapeake Bay Beach Club Child Life donation pediatrics Thanksgiving Source Type: blogs