Employee Options for Helping a Cook Children's Family During the Holidays

• Donate Wal-Mart gift cards. When you donate gift cards to Pastoral Care or Case Management, you are giving more than a holiday present for a child. You are giving a family the dignity and joy of “playing Santa” for their own children, choosing what best fits their family’s needs, culture, and taste.

• Child Life Wish List. Child Life has a Wish List of patients' favorite gifts. Cook Children’s is also registered at Amazon.com on behalf of our patients and their siblings. Your gift will benefit inpatients during the holidays and throughout the coming year!

• Collaborate. A number of organizations provide holiday assistance to patients and families served by Cook Children’s: The Salvation Army “Angel Tree”, The Star-Telegram “Goodfellows Program,” Mission Arlington, etc. Each of these depends on charitable donations from people like us in the community. To find organizations that help families, dial 2-1-1 or see http://www.tarrantcounty211.org/ or www.tarrantcares.org or www.auntbertha.com.

• Sponsor a family. A Cook Children’s department or practice may sponsor an outpatient family under their care or an employee family who has had a very difficult year. We also have names of families that our social workers have identified as needing a sponsor. Through Nov. 19, 2021, we invite you to contact us if your department wants to be matched with a family for the holidays. Please identify the primary contact person for your group. The family signs a release for contact information, so you can phone them, find out their wishes and needs, and arrange a gift delivery or pick-up. We will also need to know how large a family you wish to sponsor. 

Guidelines for sponsoring a family:

• Be discreet: you would never want to hurt the feelings of families you cannot sponsor
• Protect the sponsored family’s dignity; avoid embarrassing the child or family
• Protect the family’s personal information and your own personal information
• Encourage staff to maintain appropriate professional boundaries
• Avoid giving families cash - even a small amount of cash can impact the family’s reimbursement status
• Be aware that gifts given for a specific person/family are not usually tax-deductible
• Never coerce contributions from anyone or embarrass any non-participants; observe our institution’s Solicitation Policy (HR 680)