The Toy Foundation has awarded $380,000 to 20 children’s hospitals and health systems that cater to under-resourced communities as part of its 2024 Children’s Hospital Play Grants program. As The Toy Association’s philanthropic arm, The Toy Foundation will fund innovative play therapy that will benefit more than 240,000 kids in need.
Play therapy projects improve the care, well-being, and treatment outcomes of hospitalized kids. According to recent research by the Hope for Henry Foundation, access to play elevates the overall patient experience by 98%. Hospitals usually rely on external funding or donations to provide play therapy projects. The Toy Foundation’s Children’s Hospital Play Grants program is designed to help hospitals offer this integral part of the holistic pediatric care model.
The program helps hospitals in which 50% or more of its patients rely on Medicaid. This year, the play projects include arts and crafts programs, sensory toy stations, and playroom and waiting room upgrades that hospitals will complete by the end of the year.
The 2024 Children’s Hospital Play Grants recipients include:
- Adventhealth Tampa — Tampa, Florida
- Advocate Children’s Hospital — Oak Brook, Illinois
- Arkansas Children’s — Little Rock, Arizona
- Carilion Children’s — Roanoke, Virginia
- Children’s Specialized Hospital — Mountainside, New Jersey
- Children’s Health Foundation — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Children’s Hospital at Montefiore — Bronx, New York
- CHRISTUS Children’s — San Antonio, Texas
- Covenant Children’s Hospital — Saginaw, Michigan
- El Paso Children’s Hospital Foundation — El Paso, Texas
- Elizabeth Seton Children’s Center — Yonkers, New York
- Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital — Hollywood, Florida
- Johns Hopkins All Children’s Foundation — Saint Petersburg, Florida
- La Rabida Children’s Hospital — Chicago, Illinois
- Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital — Memphis, Tennessee
- Maimonides Medical Center — Brooklyn, New York
- MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach — Long Beach, California
- Texas Children’s Hospital — Houston, Texas
- The Bernard & Millie Ducker Children’s Hospital at Albany Medical Center — Albany, New York
- Valley Children’s Hospital — Madera, California
“Play has a profound impact on a child’s healing journey during a hospital stay, providing physical, emotional, and educational benefits that you cannot get from medicine,” says Pamela Mastrota, Executive Director at The Toy Foundation. “We are proud to expand the Play Grants program with a third annual distribution of grants that will support more hospitals and pediatric patients by giving them access to toys, art, and other play therapies to help improve children’s coping skills and medical outcomes.”
Since 2021, the Children’s Hospital Play Grants program has helped improve pediatric care through nearly 40 play projects at Children’s Hospital Association member hospitals. For more information about the program, or The Toy Foundation’s partnership and financial support from Beacon Media Group and VTech Electronics North America, visit toyfoundation.org.
