How We Help
Our 4 Pillars Foster Joy, Hope, Resilience, and Healing
The programs we provide at enCourage Kids support hospitalized children along four program pillars: joy, hope, resilience, and healing. Through our work, we bring moments of serenity and true happiness during some of children’s darkest hours as they undergo intense medical treatments and procedures in an unfamiliar environment.
enCourage Kids’ programs
We fund a range of meaningful, positive projects that make hospital stays less lonely and frightening for children, and ease the anxiety they and their family members may experience. Your donations fund the following in-hospital programs that make a world of difference.
Hospital Happenings
Clowns, musicians, visual artists, and magicians provide whimsical moments of fun and distraction. Through engaging, interactive performances, these entertainers bring laughs and lift up patients’ spirits, help relieve loneliness and fear, and brighten up any day.
Creative Arts
enCourage Kids funds artist-in-residence programs and supports music therapy, art therapy, and horticulture therapy initiatives. Such tactile therapy programs are proven to help kids release anxiety and stress, increase cooperation with medical procedures, foster mindfulness, and help kids explore their creative side.
Technology Programs
These include inpatient entertainment systems and tablets loaded with games and educational apps to help kids cope. We also provide advanced recording technology for music therapy, intra-hospital patient-to-patient TV programming, and mobile treatment units to calm and entertain non-mobile patients in their rooms.
Hospital Admission & Comfort Kits
Each kit includes individualized and engaging activity packs given to patients upon arrival to keep their minds and hands busy.
Bears
Who couldn’t use the companionship of a cuddly teddy bear—the ultimate comforting “paw” to hold. Our Bear Program provides that much-needed solace and serves as a teaching tool to help kids develop coping skills.
Recreational Activities
enCourage Kids arranges inpatient, outpatient and recreational activities, such as hospital parties and day trips, to distract kids from the stress of treatments and hospital stays. These self-esteem and confidence-building activities provide opportunities to meet and interact with other children while encouraging mobility and independence.
Equipment & Supplies
Responding to hospital requests, the items we provide make it easier for hospital staff to do their jobs. Examples include sourcing and providing child-friendly exam tables and infant scales to enhance care, onesies that help raise awareness for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), and adaptive sports equipment for children with significant physical limitations.
