Caitlin's Smiles - Giving sick children laughs, hopes and smiles.

Cheryl Hornung was stillwracked with grief over theloss of her 7-year-old daughter,Caitlin, when she made a fateful call toPenn State Hershey Children’s Hospitalin December of 2000.

Caitlin had died of cancer in Octoberof that year, just before her 8th birthday.Her mother, a bargain shopper whosnatches something up when she seesa good deal, already had purchased herbirthday and Christmas gifts. "I calledPenn State Children’s Hospital andasked if I could bring in all her pres-ents," says Hornung, of Middle PaxtonTownship. "And I saw what a differencethat made for the children."

Bringing smiles to sick kids gave Hor-nung a much-needed smile of her own.It also gave her a mission.

Three years later, Hornung startedCaitlin’s Smiles, a nonprofit organizationthat supplies craft kits, art supplies andgift bags to kids with chronic and life threatening illnesses. It honors the legacyof a little girl who loved to do arts andcrafts and then give them all away.

"She used to spend all her time coloring pictures and giving them to all thenurses that came in the room," Hornungsays of Caitlin, who was diagnosed witha brain tumor in 1997 at the age of 4.More surgeries and hospital stays fol-lowed, and Hornung and her husbandmade sure Caitlin always had her back-pack of craft supplies with her to keepher distracted and happy.

"When she was an outpatient, she’dpass out smiley-face cookies and what-ever crafts she had that day to the otherkids, doctors and nurses," Hornungrecalls. "We found with her that healingwas as much mental as it was physical."

When Caitlin lost her battle, it wasHornung who needed to heal. She vol-unteered for the organizations that hadhelped their family during Caitlin’s or-deal. But she kept thinking back to herdaughter’s backpack of arts and crafts.

Finally, in 2004, she decided to takethe plunge. Progressive Education ofChildren in the Arts Network offeredto help her start the nonprofit Cait-lin’s Smiles. When she stopped by herchurch, First Zion Lutheran Church inDauphin, to tell Pastor Randy Barr thenews, he immediately gave her the keysto an empty office in the church buildingto use as Caitlin’s Smiles headquarters.

He also gave her a head start onsupplies. "He told me that he had 600boxes of markers in the back room thatsomeone had just donated to the churcha few days before," she says. "He said,‘I’d like to keep one or two dozen forour Sunday school kids, but you cankeep the rest.’"

Barr, who is now on the nonprofit’sboard of directors, says the free officespace was a natural response to Hor-nung’s idea. "It’s a little church with abig heart," he says. "When people comeby and want to do good things, we say,‘How can we help?’"

Hornung’s little endeavor quicklygained steam, and she cultivated a cadreof volunteers to help her buy, pack anddeliver several different kinds of goodybags. There are age-specific Bags ofSmiles, which contain craft kits, Play-Doh, art supplies and a homemadecard. There are Arts and Crafts Kits forhospitals to keep on hand for kids whoare awaiting test results or getting bloodtransfusions. And there are Family CareKits that include a gas card, phone cardand local restaurant gift cards to make theexpense of caring for a sick child, some-times far from home, a little bit easier.

The organization relies on donationsof money and supplies, fundraisers, theoccasional grant and a lot of volunteers.In 2008, Caitlin’s Smiles delivered morethan 70,000 Bags of Smiles and Arts andCrafts Kits to kids in hospitals up anddown the East Coast.

Mason Koppenhaver of Berrysburgwas one of the earliest recipients of aCaitlin’s Smiles bag. Mason’s mother,Heidi Koppenhaver, remembers the dayin July 2004 at Harrisburg Hospital whena hospital worker brought in a bag ofgoodies for Mason, who was not quite 4.The boy was getting prepped for his thirdsurgery that year, and nothing — not hisSpongeBob SquarePants blanket or hisparents’ loving hugs — could take awayhis fears. "Then the child life specialistbrought in this bag and it was like heimmediately forgot why we were there,"Koppenhaver says. "I didn’t even knowwhat was in the bag, I was just like,‘Thank you so much.’"

Koppenhaver tracked down Hornungto thank her personally for the gift —and to become a Caitlin’s Smiles volun-teer. "I don’t think people realize, unlessthey have a child who’s sick, just howmuch it means," Koppenhaver says.That has been among the biggestsurprises for Hornung.

"I am shocked daily," she says of theoutlet her organization gives to thosewho need to spread smiles, not just re-ceive one. "I saw my clients as just beingthe kids and families in the hospital. Andnow I see how important it is for peopleto get hooked up to a good cause and beable to give back."

In February, Caitlin’s Smiles movedits headquarters to downtown Har-risburg because it had long outgrownits space at the church. Trying to makerent payments along with meeting everyrequest that comes in can be stressful,but Hornung says it’s comforting to stayso connected to Caitlin, who would be17 now.

"Most of the time I really feel herpresence up there guiding me," Hor-nung says. "I know she’d say, ‘Way togo, Mom. I love this!’"

When Mason Koppenhaver had a gastric tube inserted, he was confined to his hospital bed. The brightest spot in each day came from a book of puzzles in a Caitlin's Smiles gift bag.

"That was the most awesome thing because he looked forward to doing a different puzzle every day," said his mom, Heidi Koppenhaver of Berrysburg. "Something so simple, but it was new to him, and it took his mind off things."

Experts and parents such as Koppenhaver, whose 9-year-old son has had about 10 surgeries to treat a mysterious autoimmune condition, agree that activities and crafts help hospitalized children cope with treatment, develop normally, and experience routine in their disrupted lives. Cheryl Hornung of Middle Paxton Twp. founded Caitlin's Smiles in 2004, to honor her 8-year-old daughter who died from a brain tumor in 2000 and endured years of treatments with help from craft projects.

From Caitlin's Smiles' colorful and organized new space on Sixth Street, Susquehanna Twp., volunteers prepare age- and gender-appropriate activity bags and craft kits for about 70,000 hospitalized children and teens a year, Hornung said.

"Caitlin was into anything with glitter and glue and crayons," Hornung said. "In the hospital, it kept her occupied. We learned pretty quickly that healing is a mental process. Chemo and all the treatment wasn't that big a deal if she could color and hand out pictures."

Hospitalization can slow a child's developmental progress, said Debbie Waltermire of New Freedom, York County, an occupational therapy lecturer at Elizabethtown College.

"As the child's main occupation, they need to play, and Caitlin's Smiles is trying to give a normal play experience," Waltermire said. "Arts and crafts is a lot of what they do to develop those fine motor skills and visual skills."

Waltermire also speaks from personal experience because her son, now 9, was hospitalized as an infant and at age 7 for heart surgery.

"My gosh, they have something to do to pass the time," she said. "There's only so many movies and videos you can watch."

Beginning August 1, five regional Borders stores in Harrisburg, Camp Hill, Lancaster, Reading and York will begin to to collect books and art supplies for Caitlin's Smiles to distribute to children in hospitals. (The Borders Express store in Lancaster will also be collecting). This year's drive will again kick off with a live remote with WITF at the Harrisburg Borders store from noon to 4 pm. Stop by to say hi to your favorite radio personality, make a card for a child in the hospital and purchase a book to donate to Caitlin's Smiles!

Last year's drive yielded fantastic results! The drive brought in $58,000 in books - over 300 CASES! These books were distributed in the Caitlin's Smiles "Bags of Smiles" and were used to restock area hospital children's playrooms and library areas. Let's try to collect 500 cases this year!

Thanks to the generosity of WITF 89.5 listeners and Borders shoppers, you have put smiles on the faces of thousands of hospitalized children! Remember this partnership runs the entire month of August!

About 250 employees of the professional services firm Deloitte fanned out across the Harrisburg area today to work at nonprofit organizations. The firm says that skilled volunteer services such as Web development are especially important.

Watch the video to see the volunteers working at Caitlin's Smiles, a nonprofit that provides goody bags to children in hospitals. www.youtube.com

All in one!" "All on one floor!" Volunteers who walked up and down three flights of steps in Dauphin or drove across town to get supplies from storage units will soon be working from one place on one floor! As more and more pediatric hospitals, clinics and stand-alone units are requesting Bags of Smiles® and craft kits, the parish house of Zion Lutheran Church in Dauphin is bursting at the seams and three storage units are filled with books and supplies waiting to be repackaged and shipped to children.

A year-long search for new space has culminated with a lease for functional space at 3303 North 6th Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110. Two offices, a conference room and a huge assembly and display area make up the street-side rooms of the multipurpose building which gets lots of natural light and is barrier-free. A door from the assembly area opens into the warehouse for easy inventory and "picking" of supplies for hospital orders to be processed and shipped from the front.

The joy of this move is tempered by the facts that we had free space, utilities and equipment at Zion. Now we need just about everything. Be sure to to check out our volunteer and donate pages. Then call or email to help. Thanks!

When she was in first grade, Claire Brobson worked to make life a little cheerier for kids who needed help. As part of a school project, she filled goodie bags with art and writing supplies for Caitlin's Smiles, a Dauphin-based charity that delivers presents to children with life-threatening illnesses in hospitals. Less than a year later, after learning she herself had leukemia, she got some smiles from the same program. Both times made her feel great, she said.

The goodie bag gave her a lift when she needed one, offering something entertaining to draw her focus from her illness. Claire, 8, has been writing fiction since kindergarten, creating characters such as Buddy, the dog who opened a store. It's easy to get bored during long, tough days at the hospital, so she was thrilled to get the supplies she needed for her stories. "It's kind of a lifesaver, especially for those long clinic days," said her mother, Lauren Brobson. Caitlin Hornung felt the same way about the care packages her mother would bring her in the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center when she battled a malignant brain tumor. After Caitlin died in 2000, just before her 8th birthday, her mother, Cheryl, began bringing gifts she had intended for to her daughter to other children at the medical center. Cheryl Hornung soon started buying more supplies and giving them to more children. Four years ago, she was handing out 10 bags of goodies per month Caitlin's Smiles, a nonprofit organization, was created.

Now, backed by a network of volunteers, she's giving out 400 to 500 per month to dozens of hospitals in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland. But while the demand is there, the effort is running out of room to grow. All the supplies are stacked in small rooms in the second and third floors of the Zion Lutheran Church in Dauphin. It's a claustrophobe's nightmare, as boxes are stacked upon boxes. There's almost no room to walk, and a makeshift labeling system does its best to keep order. Hornung said the organization needs warehouse space to keep the supplies, making it easier to distribute the gifts and enabling them to buy supplies in bulk. The hope is that someone will offer a warehouse or enough money to rent one, because the donations, small-scale fundraisers and occasional grants won't cover the additional expense. "This is really a grassroots operation," Hornung said. "What goes in determines what goes out." The cluttered office has stacks of crayons, markers, journals, books, beads, toys, glitter and all sorts of other supplies that hospitals can't always provide. Hornung hopes she can give out more. "I just kept thinking how happy Caitlin was if she just had pointed crayons and a coloring book," she said.

On Wednesday, November 5th, 52 high school girls along with their fans and coaches came together to help raise money for a local non-profit, all while having fun and playing volleyball! For the past 10 years, Deloitte has been a sponsor of this Senior Spikefest event raising over $5,000 to-date. All proceeds have benefitted non-profit organizations. This year, Caitlin's Smiles was the benefactor.

Senior Spikefest is organized by splitting the participating girls into teams comprised of multiple school districts (20 school districts were in attendance). During the night, there are a series of competitive volleyball games in which fans, coaches, and even college scouts cheer on and watch. The girls have the chance to meet other volleyball players, make new friends and perhaps learn some new volleyball techniques, all for a great cause! All the money collected for the entrance fee as well as refreshments was donated to Caitlin's Smiles.

Ann McGinnis and Lindsay Tyber were present to represent Deloitte and hand out a small gift, as a thank you and good luck, to all the senior girls who participated. However, the big announcement of the night came when Cheryl Hornung, Founder and Director of Caitlin's Smiles, was presented with a donation of $425!