Every September for Pediatric Cancer and Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month, the staff in our Division has fundraised in support of the patients and families we care for each day.

In 2020 and 2021, the nursing staff started using a social media approach to fundraising that allowed our friends and families to show their support for our patients and their families. In two years, we raised over $50,000 for nonprofit organizations in the Chicagoland area.

In 2022, we noticed there was a need in funding for our existing programs at Lurie Children’s Hospital. We also had some ideas of programs to start and supplies we needed but would always say “if we only had the money”. So in September of 2022, we started our own fund called A Little Lighter.

This fund was started by nursing from the feeling that we sometimes cannot do enough. We can’t take away every child’s cancer. We can’t take away every child’s pain. We can’t take away the heartache of the parent’s that feel an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Pediatric cancer and sickle cell disease is too big at times - it’s too heavy.

But what we strive to do every day is to make things a little lighter. With your help in funding, we do this through bubble parades, fashion shows, sticker books, bracelet making, parking pass coverage, support groups for teens, support groups for parents, and special events on the unit.

We also fund research at Lurie Children’s Hospital in hopes of one day finding a cure and no longer needing to make things a little lighter.

In 2022, we raised over $56,000 for the above efforts in one month through Venmo, our direct donation page, and our Amazon Wish List. Now - September 2023 - let’s see what we can do!