Miracle Moment: Delivering happiness to Golisano Children’s Hospital

Reporter: Amanda Hall Writer: Nicholas Karsen
Published: Updated:
Blankets4Zane celebrating what would have been Zane’s 9th birthday (CREDIT: Blankets4Zane)

For this Miracle Moment, WINK News follows two delivery stories to Golisano Children’s Hospital.

Blankets4Zane

Dave Witmer honors the memory of his 2-year-old son Zane by bringing blankets to children at the hospital to confornt them.

Zane passed away in 2016 after a drowning incident during a vacation in Pennsylvania. Each year since the incident, to commemorate his son, Witmer travels via a blue travel trailer, for over 18 hours, to deliver over 1,000 blankets.

Witmer then wrapped the hospital staff who were working on the day Zane passed in the blankets, turning their pain into something positive and celebrating his son.

“The reason we do this is because when Zane was here we got to take a bunch of blankets home with us after Zane passed, and so we just wanted to keep Zane’s memory alive by bringing blankets back to the hospital and honoring Zane in that way and giving comfort to kids that are also here,” said Witmer.

For more information on Blankets for Zane, please refer to their website here.

Joy Bears

The second delivery story follows the Ladies of Heritage Bay Golf and Country Club bringing smiles through customized “Joy Bears.”

The Ladies of the country club gather together twice a year to decorate teddy bears to honor their friend Joyce, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2008.

The idea came from one of Joyce’s friends, Mary, who decided to decorate a teddy bear to give to her friend during her chemo treatment.

Following Joyce’s recovery, she alongside the group, banded together to decorate bears and donate them to the center where she received treatment. They then switched to Golisano Children’s Hospital in 2017.

Joyce spent her career as an educator, stating that children are special to her. This inspired the decision to shift their attention to Golisano.

The group have produced and donated over 2,000 Joy Bears since the switch to the children’s hospital.

The bears are delivered twice a year, with the next delivery expected for Valentine’s Day.

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