Meet our Get Well Soon Grant Winners!

DoSomething.org has teamed up with the Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation to award project grants to individuals who are taking action to help children in hospitals. From creating a safe space while elementary and middle school aged kids stay in hospitals, to creating care packages for hospital bound or recovering kids, there are many ways to get involved with or start your own projects.

Fifteen projects received $500 grants, and 5 grand prize winners received $1,000 grants for their projects or organizations. Check out our winners here!

$1,000 Grand Prize Winners

Kylie Kuhns, 13

Kelsey's Dream

After her sister, Kelsey, passed away from cancer, Kylie was inspired to help other children and their families battling with the disease. She started Kelsey’s Dream Foundation, dedicated to putting smiles on children cancer patients. To accomplish this, her foundation is donating Chemo Ducks to children’s hospitals on the east coast. Kylie’s donation of Chemo Ducks help to make the patient’s stay at the hospital a little more enjoyable and gives them something to look forward to when they go for treatments. Kylie hopes to expand her program eventually reaching every Children’s Hospital in the country.

Raghib Siddiqui, 20

RX Rhapsody Presents: Rock the City

Research and experience show that music is an effective treatment to improve or maintain health. Armed with this knowledge, Raghib and RX Rhapsody, his student-led and founded organization, hold musical performances for children and adults in hospitals, childcare facilities, and retirement homes. The mission of Rx Rhapsody is to unite artists and musicians of all specialties to play at venues where music therapy can be best utilized. Raghib is planning a weekend event in New York City during which time his fellow musicians will be performing in four hospitals concluding with a small charity concert benefiting the Haiti hurricane relief fund.

Jenny Silver, 14

Bowling for Bears

After hearing about the devastating aftermath of hurricane Katrina, Jenny started Bowling for Bears in 2005 to insure that those affected by the hurricane would still receive a gift for the holidays. Bowling for Bears has since expanded into something much bigger, now providing new teddy bears for the holidays to children in children’s hospitals, shelters, foster homes, and schools. Last year, Bowling for Bears raised over $19,000 and delivered teddy bears to over 2,400 children in need.

Bernie Barta, 20

Kid Flicks

Berni found a way to put old movies to good use: instead of collecting dust on the shelves of his house, he donated them to his local children’s hospital. Afterward, Berni started reaching out to others to donate their movies and expanded his project into a full fledged organization- Kid Flicks. These movies give the young patients a means of distraction in an atmosphere that can be scary, lonely, boring, or painful. Berni’s goal is to provide every Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Department in the country with a Kid Flicks movie library for toddlers through teenagers. Eight years after he started, Kid Flicks has donated 55,000 movies to 550 different hospitals in all 50 states and 5 hospitals in South Africa.

Andrew Mills, 25

Kids in Chemotherapy and Their Students (KICS)

Cancer is one of the most feared diagnoses. Even more difficult to hear, is this diagnosis applied to a child. Unfortunately, cancer is one of the leading causes of death in children. For a child living with this condition, the days can become full of difficult and often scary treatments. Through K.I.C.S Andrew provides emotional support for children undergoing chemotherapeutic treatment for cancer. The goal of K.I.C.S is to provide children dealing with cancer a connection to a medical student that is there to support them while they are in the hospital. The Medical School mentors plan activities and go on excursions with their matched patients providing an escape for the child from the daily reality of their diagnosis and offering a consistency in their treatment plan. Since 1988 K.I.C.S has helped 200 child patients and inspired 100 people to take action.

$500 Grant Winners

Nellie Krumlauf, 20

Nellie's Catwalk for Kids

Janelle was called to action when she was 16 years old. She gathered local young people who have been affected by cancer together to put on a summer fashion show to raise funds and awareness for the cancer. Over the past three years Nellie's Catwalk for Kids has evolved and has added a winter prom fashion show and a golf outing. Now, Janelle is working to launch Nellie’s Kids and Teen Clubs in high schools for young people diagnosed with cancer. These clubs will host fun and supportive events for club members and their families.

Ari Kantrow, 18

Handmade 4 Hospitals

It's statistically proven that smiling, laughing, being happy, and feeling loved and cared for leads to a quicker and fuller recovery. With this in mind, Ari started Handmade 4 Hospitals, a club that donates handmade gifts to children staying in hospitals to brighten up their days. Each H4H member makes and donates gifts of stuffed animals, hats, bracelets, cards, etc. Recently, Ari initiated a tutoring program in several elementary schools, to get younger kids involved. Working with roughly 150 kids they made an average of 300-350 friendship bracelets, which were then sent to hospitals. In the two years since Ari started H4H her club has donated over 400 stuffed animals and outfits, 40 baby blankets, 2,000 bracelets, 100 baby hats/scarves, 25 pillows, and 50 other assorted gifts.

Cindy Barnett, 22

Youth Care

Cindy’s Youth Care provides parent survival care packages to the parents of the NICU infants, craft bags, care packages, and books to the children on every floor of her local children's hospital. In doing this, her team hopes to provide a minimum of 350 survival kits and activities/crafts or care packages each month for the upcoming school year. Cindy’s Youth Care will be partnering with other youth groups in her district to raise awareness to help youth in hospitals.

Allie Broeniman, 14

Operation Sister's Love

Allie is 14 years old and her sister has NF1. Operation A Sisters Love is an organization Allie started as a result of her sister spending a considerable amount of time in the hospital. While hospitalized, Allie’s sister was given a blanket and it gave her so much comfort that Allie decided other kids needed a blanket when they stay in the hospital. Since her initial inspiration, Allie has made and donated 275 fleece tie-blankets to the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, WI. She hopes to expand her project and start donating other comfort items such as CDs, DVDs, and toys to the hospital as well.

Jared Stossel,17

Project 143

At the age of 15, Jared started Project 143- an organization dedicated to bringing happiness to teenagers fighting cancer. Jared has lost several family members to cancer and he knows how difficult it can be when this disease affects someone close. Now, Jared works to brighten up teenage patients lives by giving them something to look forward to. He does this by connecting them to their favorite bands and artists, giving out free concert tickets and opportunities to meet the artists that inspire them.

Silvia Ruiz,16

Note Their Smiles

Silvia, an acoustic guitarist, is combining her passion for music with her will to give back. She’s starting a music program in Children’s Hospitals around her community called Note Their Smiles. Along with her friends, Silvia will be traveling to hospitals and performing for young patients. She will use her Do Something Grant money to purchase the instruments necessary for the program.

Tony Sison,15

Project Birthday

Anthony wants to ensure that young people staying in the hospital have memorable birthdays. The white, sanitary hospital rooms don’t make for a very festive environment however. With Project Birthday, Anthony is going to spice things up a bit. His birthday baskets come complete with room décor, balloons, and gifts. This year Anthony hopes to provide 40 birthday packages to young patients.

Michal Garza,12

Hopeful Hugs

Michal started Hopeful Hugs to bring hope and comfort to sick children. As a patient herself, (Michal has been battling an undiagnosed sickness that affects her digestive system) she was inspired to help others in similar situations. So far this year, Michal has collected 45 stuffed animals and over 100 cards to send to Children’s Hospitals. Her Do Something Grant money will go towards hosting Bear Bag Events to decorate cloth totes and fill them with get well soon cards and snuggly teddy bears.

Jourdan Urbach, 18

Children Helping Children

When Jourdan was 7 years old, he starting performing music in hospital playrooms where he witnessed the capability of music therapy first hand. He is now an established violinist dedicated to using his music for good. He started Children Helping Children, an organization that hosts benefit concerts raising money for Pediatric Divisions of Hospitals and Medical Organizations across the world. Children Helping Children engages and empowers young artists and orchestras to join in the vision that music and medicine are not only power fundraising partners in the concert hall, but are also extraordinary and well-documented healing partners in hospitals and therapeutic healthcare programs. To date, Jourdan has raised $4.6 million for his cause. He will use his Do Something Grant money to start an extensive music program at the Mott Children’s Hospital in Michigan.

Jocelyn Moore,17

Pokey Pets

When Jocelyn was six years old, she was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease and spent a considerable amount of time in the hospital. This experience prompted her to help others in similar situations. Jocelyn’s Pokey Pets provides hospitalized children with a sense of comfort in the form of a fluffy friend. She makes and donates fabric covers that attach around a patient’s hand covering their IV and forming a pocket inside which is hidden a stuffed animal soothing these young patients in an unfamiliar and scary environment.

Michelle Gaffney,16

Comfy Kids

Michelle experienced hospital life first hand after she underwent four major back surgeries. The time she spent in a hospital bed inspired her to take action. She started sewing handmade pillows out of colorful and fun fabric and distributing them to kids at the Children’s Hospital in Denver. Last year, Michelle made and donated over 200 pillows and she hopes to do even more this time around.

Daniel Thorngren,24

Comer Food Project

In the communities in the Southside of Chicago, more than one-third of households have an annual income below $25,000. In these same communities, deaths from diabetes and premature births are significantly higher than the national average. But families that have children in hospitals have difficulty obtaining food during their child’s stay. Daniel’s Corner Food Project fills this need. His project provides a bag of non-perishable food items to all families at Comer Children’s Hospital on the Southside, who would benefit from a food donation. Daniel will use his Get Well Soon Grant to help buy frozen meals and to conduct research on the efficacy of his program.

Stephen Dinkel,22

Holiday Party for the Kids

The Children's Center at Presbyterian Hospital services hundreds of children a year who have to spend considerable amounts of time in the hospital to deal with serious illnesses or injuries. The state of New Mexico has a high level of poverty (17%) compared to the national level (13.2%), so the families there are often spending all they can afford on healthcare, leaving little for these children to experience a normal holiday. Stephen is working to ensure this doesn’t happen. He’s organizing a holiday party at the Children’s Hospital complete with donated gifts, food, and festivities. He hopes to make this a replicable project to become something of a tradition at the hospital.

Marisa Schreiber,19

Art Therapy for Children's Help

Growing up, Marisa’s brother had two different types of cancer and she firmly believes in the power of positive encouragement. Giving children something to look forward to and something to be proud of gives them self worth, helps them heal emotionally, and gives them strength to keep fighting. As a result, Marisa joined forces with HOPE hospice to work with young people struggling with disease. Each week, Marisa and her gang of doers meet with these young patients to make art. She will use her Do Something Grant money to buy supplies to make “Burden Bears” and clay for patients to exercise their hands.

Laura Stambach,17

Recovering Kits for Siblings

Laura’s knows the toll illness can have on siblings- her brother was hospitalized for nearly 30 weeks and when he came home they were able to reconnect over activities. She’s now working to ensure this is the case for everyone by assembling and donating “Going Home” packages to families leaving the ICU. Her care packages provide projects, crafts and activities for the siblings to do together, helping them to re-connect after a long stay in the hospital or care facility. By having positive shared experiences outside of illness, families are made stronger and the sibling bond re-established.