Sweet gesture
High school senior delivers tasty treats to hospitalized children who can’t trick-or-treat on Halloween
When Gila Ridge High School senior Sydney Williams was 3-years-old she began going to the pediatric ward of Yuma Regional Medical Center on Halloween dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, to deliver goodie bags to kids who couldn’t trick-or-treat.
Williams did this for about three years, but had to stop after the hospital imposed restrictions that prevented children under the age of 16 from visiting during flu season, which occurs during the fall and winter.
“When I was a child I was not able to go trickor-treating because I had a severe peanut allergy,” Williams said. “My mom still wanted me to be included in Halloween, so we started coming to the hospital to give out goodie bags to the kids who were here.”
The Yuma Sun Sun was even there when Williams made her first delivery and an article about it ran on the front page of the Nov. 1. 2006, edition of the newspaper.
Now 11 years later, wearing the same red cape and hood she wore as a child, a now 17-year-old Williams was back once again at YRMC on Friday, dropping off goodie bags.
Although she was unable to go inside, this time due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, she and her mother came up with a viable alternative, which was to meet nurse Darcie Holoboff outside the building, and she would deliver them to the children instead.
“This will give the children an opportunity to participate in Halloween,” Holoboff said. “With the way things are now they may have not been able to Trick-or-Treat, even if they were home, so this will put a smile on their faces.”
Williams, who is going off to college next year, where she hopes to pursue a career in the medical field, said she felt that it was important to do it one last time because she might not have the opportunity to do it again.
“I thought it would be a great way to finish what I started as a child,” Williams said. “It was also a great way to come and say hello and wish them a happy Halloween.”
She added that since she
couldn’t go trick-or-treating as a child, coming to the hospital instead made her feel like she wasn’t being left out of the holiday, and she was meeting some new friends who couldn’t go either.
Inside each of the bags were coloring books and crayons, Play-Doh, stickers, Rice Crispy treats, a lollipop, a package of veggie straws and some applesauce.
“The children have an activity and a snack,” Williams said.
Any leftover goodie bags not given to kids in the pediatric unit will be shared with children in the emergency room unit, according to Holoboff.
Williams’ mom, Sharon, said she is proud of the young woman her daughter has become.
“You try to raise your children to want to give to others and not always think of themselves,” Sharon Williams said. “I send her to school every day telling her to treat people the way she would want to be treated and to always do the right thing.”
In addition to YRMC, Williams also provided her goodie bags to a safe house and the Moon’s Bridge, which is an Occupational
Therapy nonprofit that helps children and families who may not be able to afford treatment on their own.