ALL CITY CANDY STAFF DELIVER BASKETS

Those who donated to baskets showed their support by writing encouraging notes to young patients at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital

All City Candy in Richmond Heights has completed another year of donating candy baskets for children at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital who will be there over the Easter holiday.

All City staff piled 150 baskets filled with treats and toys into owner Elisabeth Sapell’s car, and delivered them to UH Rainbow in downtown Cleveland on the snowy afternoon of April 1.

The store has given candy baskets to UH Rainbow for quite a few years, but after being unable to last spring due to the coronavirus lockdown, Sapell said this year was a “heartwarming” experience.

The baskets will be quarantined for a couple days to prevent the spread of any germs before hospital staff distribute them to the children.

“It took the whole team two days of putting the baskets together, packing them, and making them special,” Sapell said, “I couldn’t be more thrilled.”

She said that her staff came up with a new idea this time to include some candy baskets that were nut-free to ensure that children with nut allergies would still get to enjoy them. Also new this year, All City was able to accept donations towards the candy baskets from customers through the store’s website along with inperson visits. Sapell said many patrons took advantage of that, and she was grateful for all of their support. “It went great, our customers just rallied around us,” she said. Customers who donated to the new online platform were encouraged to also leave hopeful messages to patients, which would be tucked in with the candy for a personal touch. Sapell said the idea went over really well with customers. “A lot of people wrote, there were some [notes] from fifth-graders and kindergartners, and from customers and staff,” she said, “It was beautifully done. “The customer support and the stories that they tell us about Rainbow just makes our involvement even more special.”

SHEENA HOLLAND DOLAN — THE NEWS-HERALD All City Candy owner Elisabeth Sapell (front) and staff from the candy shop and UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s help unload 150candy baskets from Sapell’s car for children at the hospital.

SHEENA HOLLAND DOLAN — THE NEWS-HERALD Staff from All City Candy put together all the candy baskets over the course of a couple days, filling them with classic spring Peeps, hard candies and toys.