GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY — A 10 year old girl and her mom helping Munson Health care – one cocoa bomb at a time.
Earlier today, the pair presented the hospital with a check of over $1,000 for the Child Life Program.
The program helps children cope with the stress of being in a hospital setting
The mother and daughter began raising money for the Child Life Program three years ago when Crystal Pulice’s youngest daughter was in the hospital for her first Christmas.
Since then, Crystal and her daughter, Madelyn, have been raising money for the Child Life Program from their neighborhood.
Over the course of five days, Madelyn and her mom put together over 200 hot cocoa bomb kits to sell at a local craft show.
There, they raised $1,080 and all the proceeds went to the Child Life Program.
Crystal, who is an Emergency Medicine Physician, said “That was significantly more than last year where we had kind of more of a lemonade stand set up. So this year we went to a local craft fair. I brought, a box of them to work, so we kind of brought them everywhere. We could hit up as many friends as we could. ”
Madelyn said “A lot of people were like, kind of, like, smiling and, like, giving a lot of, like, money, like for the cocoa bombs. ”
Crystal Starkey, the coordinator of the Child Life Department, says that the donation from the Pulice’s will fund their pediatric emergency room cart that employees can pick a toy out for a child.
She adds that donations like this give her the chance to purchase items that fill in the gaps, “Things that we need. I see kiddos ages 0 to 18. So these donations allow me if I see that we’re short, for a certain age group, that I can, get more things, for our kids. ”
While Madelyn and her mom do this fundraiser around Christmas, they encourage people to donate to the program year round.
For more information on how to support healthcare in northern Michigan, please contact the foundation at 231-213-1150 or visit click here.