A local business is doing its part to help families facing challenging times.
Acton’s distributor of natural health products, Purity Life, has donated a plethora of items to be used in comfort kits for those who unexpectedly have a child staying in a hospital long-term.
The kits are the work of Liam’s Mission, a Milton organization headed up by Deana Wilson and her eight-year-old son Liam, who suffers from cystic fibrosis.
The care packages consist of many creature comforts and necessities such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, combs, colouring books and crayons, to name a few.
Purity Life’s health and wellness coordinator Amy Westerveld said her company donated items like hand lotion, deodorant, facial cleanser, feminine hygiene products and granola bars.
"We have a lot of products that come through that are either damaged a little bit or approaching an expiry date. And part of the role that I took on was finding places for those items so that we're not throwing stuff in the garbage,” she said, noting it was easy for her to support Liam's Mission as she's had a child stay in hospital in the past.
The kits will be donated to three hospitals: SickKids in Toronto - where Liam has been admitted before - Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital and Milton District Hospital. The packages will be distributed around March, but Wilson says she will continue to make the kits “for as long as they need them.”
Wilson praised the “amazing support from Acton and Georgetown” Liam's Mission has received in the past and present.
Hospital stays are stressful not only for the sick child, but also for parents who have to watch them suffer. Liam’s last hospital stay was almost two years ago during the holidays. Just like his mother, Liam said that he didn’t want to stay there very long and “just wanted to go home.”
Wilson recalled she “was completely stressed about everything that was going on with Liam. He needed seven different IVs because his IVs kept coming out. So every time a new one came in, I was like sick to my stomach."
Liam hopes to make other children staying in hospitals happier with the items found in the comfort kits.
Halton Hills residents who want to contribute financially to the project can do so on GoFundMe.
Those interested in donating items for the comfort kits can contact Deana Wilson at [email protected].
For further details, visit LiamsMission.ca.
