The Holiday Season is a truly magical experience.  The color green has often been associated with that time of year, as green historically represents renewal and re-birth.  Even the ecological movement has embraced an association with the color green, in keeping with their vision of renewing our planet through a more enlightened sense of environmental stewardship.

 

Of course the spirit of the Holiday Season could not achieve it's fullest potential were it not being viewed through the eyes of children.  In fact it's the one time of year that adults strive to become more like kids.  The "magic" of the holidays can help to bring our hectic world into proper focus.  It helps prepare us for the new year with a fresh perspective. 

 

Now imagine that it is Summer outside and you are a child who is confined to a hospital bed.  Take one more step into their world and realize that their future might not project beyond the surgery that they are scheduled for in the coming days.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if something could be done to make a little Christmas "magic" for them today?

 

Some people believe it's possible and so for the past six years the company of Bovis Lend Lease has been manipulating the calendar in Children's Hospitals across the country through their program...Christmas in July.

 

Recognizing that although hospitals receive many gifts during the Holiday Season, donations of books and toys are slow in other times of the year.  But for a kid in the hospital, Christmas may seem like an "eternity" away.  Thanks to the efforts of Bovis, along with their many contributors however, Christmas now comes to places like Children's Hospitals and Ronald McDonald's Houses during the heart of Summer.

 

Each year books and toys are assembled for delivery to hospital toy rooms across the country.  These special gifts are given to each child who has been in the hospital for a week, followed by another toy every week that he or she remains.  Children also receive a book or toy prior to having a surgical procedure...another toy is there waiting for them when they come out.  Kids are also given toys from the Christmas in July Toy and Book Drive if they happen to be hospitalized on their birthday and often if they simply have received no toys from home.

 

It's now August which marks the completion of yet another very successful Christmas in July Toy and Book Drive.  As you read this story thousands of children are having their lives brightened and their spirits lifted through the "magic" of a holiday that still remains a speck on their distant horizon.  Nonetheless, this and similar efforts are making this world a better place to live.  If the Green Movement is about encouraging restoration and renewal... then surely it flourishes in the lives of these kids.

For information on how to be a part of Christmas in July, email Mitch Patalano at: mitch.patalano@bovislendlease.com