There Is Always Room for
Hope
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
helping children in hospitals (from newborns to 18 year olds) create a more comfortable atmosphere while at the hospital. The first four years were specifically geared toward room designs. This began in Virtua Hospital by Matt Usher in Voorhees, NJ. Her Non-Profit Every once in awhile we come into Organization (NPO), then known as contact with miraculous people with Shannon’s Dream, raised $12,000 that miraculous stories. This past week I had allowed them to fully redesign 2 rooms the pleasure of speaking with Shannon in the hospital to be more homelike and Hartey. Shannon was diagnosed with comfortable for children. They continued Leukemia when she was six years old. to raise funds to expand the services they She spent nearly 3 years in a hospital as could provide. she battled bravely and survived her early After high school, Shannon attended encounter with the disease. The memories Rowan University. At Rowan they of countless nights in the hospital stayed embraced Shannon’s idea in her Public with her into her adulthood. Relations class, her classmates shared her In 2006, when she was 16, she went to enthusiasm and their senior PR plan and the hospital for a regular check-up. She business project became helping Shannon passed by a hospital room that looked fullfill her dream. Students came up exactly like what she remembered from with the idea of a welcome package for her experience nine years prior in 1997. qualified children that includes a gift This was the “aha” moment that has been basket (gender specific pillows, blankets, guiding Shannon ever since. Why couldn’t books, movies, kid’s soaps for bubble the hospital rooms be more friendly and baths, etc…). Even the children’s parents homelike? were to receive VISA gift cards, restaurant Since that day Shannon has been gift cards and neck wraps. One of the girls
—Gandhi
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Jersey Shore Family School Resource Guide 2014