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NEW CHALLENGES, SAME HOLIDAY EVENT!

Like all other aspects of life, the hospital’s annual Polar Express week will change due to COVID19. This has been the signature event originated and supported by Bright Happy Power for oncology and transplant patients on several units of Children’s Hospital Boston.

This year, all celebrations take place bedside with family-only, supported by staff. Visitors and volunteers are not permitted.

As well, we have been asked to change the nature of the donations. The greatest needs are for everyday essentials and comfort items for patients, parents and siblings. We will provide funds to be used by hospital staff to develop a variation on Polar Express week that meets family needs while continuing to offer fun as well.

Additionally, the hospital cannot permit external donations of any items this year, but must order all the supplies from their own vendors. Your donations to Bright Happy Power will bring holiday cheer to the bedside of pediatric cancer and hematology patients.

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Polar Express Celebration at Childrens Hospital Boston

In early December, patients and families at Childrens Hospital Boston enjoy the start of a week-long winter festival that highlights the Christmas book Polar Express. The event also includes several days of interactive holiday crafts and activities, and culminates with distribution of “Believe” brass sleigh bells.

This tradition began several years ago, and remains our annual program at the hospital for pediatric cancer and transplant patients, siblings, and families. The festival has expanded to include additional units, with contributions of pajamas, slippers and other essentials by many organizations.

We thank the Trustees of Reservations for welcoming our exhibit at the annual Christmas open house at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA. That exhibit is underwritten by the Institution for Savings, whose sponsorship then allows us to fund and organize this Polar Express event at Children’s Hospital Boston.

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Greening the Great House

This year, we continued the annual tradition of decorating the Great House at the Crane Estate for Christmas, filling it with origami paper cranes and other hand-crafted paper-based decorations. The theme this year was a vintage Christmas, so we featured many 1920s Christmas portraits and card images. These included children and families surrounding Christmas trees, flappers dancing, Harlem men and women in fur coats, and young immigrants gathered around an Ellis Island Christmas tree, among many images. Light-hearted vintage Christmas images also made an appearance: dogs and cats, sleighs and snowmen, and Santa (of course).

Volunteers helped prepare and hang these historic images in the Grand Staircase. We thank the Trustees of Reservations for welcoming our exhibit at the annual Christmas open house at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, MA. That exhibit is underwritten by the Institution for Savings, whose sponsorship then allows us to fund and organize this Polar Express event at Children’s Hospital Boston.

About the Childrens Hospital Event: In early December, patients and families at Childrens Hospital Boston enjoy the start of a week-long winter festival that highlights the Christmas book Polar Express. The event also includes several days of interactive holiday crafts and activities, and culminates with distribution of “Believe” brass sleigh bells.

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IPSWICH ILLUMINATED: Jessie’s Floating Wish Lanterns Shine to Remember & Celebrate

Jessie’s Floating Wish Lanterns floating past canoeists loading firewood onto bonfires in past Ipswich Illuminated event.

Jessie’s Floating Wish Lanterns return to the river and Ipswich Illuminated this year on the evening of October 5th. Come by to write a wish, light a light, and set it adrift on the river. Participation is free; donations support seasonal programming for pediatric cancer patients at Childrens Hospital Boston and Dana Farber, plus other sites.

Kayakers retrieve the lanterns and candles at the end of the evening, for fire safety and environmental sustainability.

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Dr William Tan Returns for Boston Marathon!

On Monday, April 15, 2019, Dr William Tan returns as a wheelchair athlete in the Boston Marathon. He has been participating in this race for 17 years, and is a worldclass athlete, setting records on different continents during his lifetime.

The Doktor family’s connection to the Boston Marathon goes back to 2002, the first year that Dr William Tan, a wheelchair athlete from Singapore, partnered with Jessica Doktor to compete in the Marathon and raise funds for Childrens Hospital Boston. He continued to race every year, and notably carried Jessie across the finish line on his lap in his regular push chair one year.  He shared his medals with Jessie and her sister Sarah.

Ironically, Dr. Tan was diagnosed with leukemia, and spent time undergoing chemo, radiation and a successful bone marrow transplant, before once more returning to the United States for several years to compete again in the Marathon. He continues to participate, in part, to draw attention to and raise funds and awareness for Bright Happy Power!

Other athletes have also raced in honor of and memory of Jessie, raising funds for Mass General Hospital and Dana Farber as well as Childrens Hospital boston.

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Decorating at Castle Hill Brings Holidays to the Hospital

Every year we decorate with origami cranes, hand-folded by local volunteers, for Christmas at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, a Trustees of Reservations property in Ipswich, MA.

Each year, the stately home with its sweeping grounds, overlooking  Plum Island Sound and Atlantic Ocean, tantalizes visitors with Christmas-themed lights and flourishes. Several florists and decorators volunteer to create customized arrangements and vignettes in the historic rooms on the first and second floors. Visitors can imagine sitting down at the dining table,  stepping into a veritable wonderland, or slipping upstairs for a private moment in the bedroom. Fresh floral creativity and decorative installations draw out the holiday theme. Every year, our organization decorates the grand staircase.

This year we’re welcoming “Christmas by the Sea.” Bright Happy Power is filling the grand staircase with starfish, flowing currents of ribbon, air bubbles, and a swirl of paper birds. Watch for photos!

This installation is sponsored by Institution for Savings. Their underwriting of the Christmas event at Castle Hill allows Bright Happy Power to provide winter holiday programming at Children’s Hospital Boston. The hospital’s holiday program — kick-started by Bright Happy Power and inspired by the book and  movie Polar Express — has become a hospital-wide event during December. From the original one-day party on the oncology and stem cell/bone marrow transplant wings, it has expanded to several days of festive activities and is celebrated throughout the hospital’s inpatient units.

This hospital holiday event, funded by the sponsorship of our installation at Castle Hill, brings hope and happiness  to pediatric patients and their families during the winter season! What a wonderful trade-off: our volunteers spend a few days  decorating for Christmas, in turn Bright Happy Power provides the launch-point for a much-cherished holiday celebration at the hospital! One specialists calls it her favorite week of the year at the hospital.

Every paper bird folded, every dollar donated, and every wish bell delivered … makes a difference to children and families who need the opportunity to BELIEVE!

 

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Zoo Day

Bright Happy Power is bringing a handful of volunteers to the hospital to host an event called Zoo Day. Patients and sibs can stuff their own animals, enjoy crafts and snacks, and take a break from life on treatment. Builds morale and emotional resilience.

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Accomplishments

This nonprofit has been operating since 2007, and has accomplished the following projects:

  • Family and patient programming at Childrens Hospital Boston for oncology, hematology, and transplant units: holiday and seasonal events with crafts, activities, games
  • Support for pediatric  patients at Mass General, Dana Farber, Childrens Hospital Boston, Maine Medical Laura Bush Children’s Hospital, Beverly Hospital, and other regional hospitals and clinics
  • Trained high school volunteers who have gone on to pursue medical or child development careers
  • Established community events that celebrate life and remember loved ones:
  • Direct support for families living with cancer and other challenges: meals and gift cards for meals, toiletries, books, games and interactive educational tools such as iPads, parking passes, and financial assistance
  • Sibling and family support with access to concerts and events with Dana Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic
  • Provided childlife resources such as books, soccer balls, and toys for children being treated for burns and cleft palates by international teams such as Rotaplast
  • Developed a grief therapy for surviving siblings
  • Fundraising for cancer research and treatment with Pan Mass Challenge/PMC as part of Team Kermit: Chris Doktor and Sarah Doktor
  • Support for research for rare diseases such as CMTJ4
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About Bright Happy Power

Bright Happy Power is a small nonprofit 501(c)3 (ID #26-1668751) that aims to place hope, happiness and empowerment into the hands and lives of children and families facing life-threatening and catastrophic challenges. It was co-founded by Sarah, Gail, and Chris Doktor, inspired by the life of Sarah’s sister and Chris and Gail’s daughter Jessie, who lived with leukemia. Our organization was named among the One Hundred by Mass General Hospital for its service to cancer families.

Contact us: Bright Happy Power, 49 North Main St, Ipswich, MA 01938.

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