The teen making care packages for kids in hospital
Every month Lucia Murphy, 16, loads up her parents’ car with paper bags filled with miniature soaps, hand lotion, shampoo bars and books and drives them to children in hospital.
The bags also contain a slip of paper that reads: ‘‘A little something to make your hospital stay more bearable. You’ve got this.’’
Lucia has been singlehandedly making the parcels for the past two months under the name of her own nonprofit organisation, The Raindrop Project.
‘‘You know how a raindrop drops in then ripples out? That’s what I was thinking,’’ Lucia said. ‘‘I also like going outside in the rain and whenever a raindrop touches me it’s like a little kiss from the universe. I kind of liked that idea of passing on a little sweet gesture to someone else.’’
Once she puts together the parcels on the floor of her parents’ lounge, she drops them to staff at the children’s hospital, Te Wao Nui, and the rangatahi inpatient mental health unit in Porirua. Lucia, who has coeliac disease, came up with the idea after she was admitted to the children’s hospital at 15 with an electrolyte imbalance – a complication of the illness.
‘‘It’s quite scary being in hospital and you feel quite alone. I wanted to show people there’s someone out there rooting for them.’’
Lucia emailed beauty companies and a local bookstore Marsden Books, which were keen to sponsor the Raindrop Project. ‘‘Some replied the same day,’’ she said.
She has also begun a Christmas toy drive through her school, Queen Margaret College, collecting new soft toys, board games and art supplies.
When The Dominion Post visited, Lucia’s parents’ lounge was sprinkled with boxes with Monopoly games, canvases and plush toys – and while her parents have been ‘‘not too happy’’ about the clutter – Lucia hopes to get as many gifts as possible.
The care packages are distributed with the help of Wellington Hospitals Foundation and staff in the facilities. Foundation chairperson Bill Day praised Lucia’s initiative and said her donations were ‘‘wonderfully received’’.
‘‘We need a smile in this strange world we have . . . this sort of warms your heart.’’