Grab a Burger for a Cause!

Happy June, Alex's Sunnyside Playroom friends! We have a few exciting items coming up, starting with today and the #BigGive through the Columbus Foundation (https://columbusfoundation.org/the-giving-store/nonprofit-directory-listing/AlexsSunnysidePlayroomInc/14884). Until June 11th, 2020 at 6 pm (EST), the Columbus Foundation is giving 100% of donations directly to the non-profits in Central Ohio by covering credit card fees. They are also offering a potential for additional incentives including matching funds. If you donate $20, you will receive (5) coupons for give-a-ways including a free 7" one-topping pizza, The Candle Lab buy one 11 oz soy candle, get one free, Jeni's free scoop of ice cream, Piada Italian Street Food receive a free piada stick and White Castle free breakfast sandwich waffle, bun or toast. What would we do with a $20 donation? We will purchase picture books for the playrooms including titles like "Young, Gift and Black" by Jamia Wilson, "Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy" by Ray Terciero and Bre Indigo, "I Believe I Can" by Grace Byers, and "101 World Changing Women" by Julia Adams. Reading daily has incredible benefits on vocabulary, comprehension,and psycho-social emotional behavior. Here is some evidence to check out:

(https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evidence-based-living/201804/when-parents-read-kids-everyone-wins)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610292/

https://readoxford.org/reading-comprehension-and-vocabulary-whats-the-connection

As you may or may not know, during the pandemic no visitors are allowed to the bone marrow transplant unit and leukemia clinics. Alex used to read to the girls at nighttime over the iPad Facetime to stay connected, when they were not permitted to visit. We will be happily purchase iPad's for Dr. Wendy Stock's patients at The University of Chicago Medicine to help patients connect with their families from the money we receive from the Swenson's Drive-in to Donate event on Thursday, June 25, 2020 from 4-9 p.m. and the Big Give event.

#Isolation

Hi Everyone,

We know the world is very different these days. Our non-profit is run primarily alone, by myself. I have been doing what I can during the #pandemic of #COVID19 to support our community and frontline workers. We have sent many art kits from The Party Studio Columbus to our volunteers, ordered food cards to be delivered to the ICU physicians at Riverside Methodist Hospital, had food delivered to the NICU nurses at RMH, sewn masks for friends in the medical community, chalked the walk of everyone in our neighborhood, sent letters and pictures to physicians that we know are fighting on the #frontlines, and dropped off activities for patients at The James Cancer Hospital undergoing bone marrow transplants during the crisis. We also donated 7 bags of clothes, activities and sleeping bags to a homeless shelter fighting COVID-19. Do you have any ideas of what more we can do in the crisis? Please speak up, email me, follow us on Instagram, comment and share our mission.

#GivingTuesday is coming up on May 5th. It's financially a difficult time for everyone. I have lost my own jobs in healthcare and have been trying to operate on a tighter budget. If you aren't able to donate during Giving Tuesday, please consider sharing our mission with your friends/followers on social media, which is a FREE WAY TO SUPPORT US. You could add us to your Amazon Smile account. It costs nothing. Amazon automatically donates to our non-profit 0.5% of the price of your items. If you know of someone with a GREAT talent that might be willing to donate their time to a virtual event for families or adults, please email us at alexs.sunnyside.playroom@gmail.com.

Thank you for being there. We are grateful to you!!

#DoctorsDay2020

March 30th is Doctor's Day 2020. Let's support our #frontlineheroes on this day. Here's how you can do it!

~Put up thank you pictures or cards on your front windows tomorrow

~Chalk the driveway or sidewalk in front of a healthcare worker's home tomorrow

~Pick-up some FREE mask kits from your local JoAnn Fabrics #stayhealthy

https://www.joann.com/make-to-give-response/. If you make the masks, you can either porch drop them to us or donate them to your local JoAnn Fabrics stores. We have been working on them this weekend for our co-workers. This is a great video that we've been using to put them together: https://www.deaconess.com/How-to-make-a-Face-Mask