Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital hosts holiday community toy shop for patients, families in need

BALTIMORE - Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital transformed into its own version of a toy store.

The hospital held its annual holiday community toy shop Sunday for its patients and those in need.

"Seeing yearly how more and more families need support and help during the holidays. And it's just an amazing time where we can all help give back and just be kind to each other," said Michelle Hanover, the Patient Family Liaison at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital.

This event all began with an idea 10 years ago.

"I started making toy bags for our families as a whole. And then we realized that maybe we can make this more of an event for our families so they could be able to pick out the toys themselves," Hanover said.

Hanover is Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital's patient family liaison and she is one of the masterminds behind their annual Toy Shop.

"It grew over the years," Hanover said. "And now it's a huge community effort. The whole hospital gets involved. The whole community gets involved to make this event happen." 

In-patient and out-patient families are pre-registered to pick up toys in their drive-thru or step inside the toy shop. 

 "For Mt. Washington to be doing something like this is truly a blessing," said Bernard Lawson a parent of a patient at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital

All the toys are new, and everything is for children of all ages and abilities.

Hanover told WJZ to see this year-round effort continue for a decade, is more than they could wish.

 "It think it gives people more hope," Lawson said.

"I think it's overwhelming to see how much everybody really comes together and pulls through for our hospital," Hanover added. 

Volunteers and organizers also told WJZ about 450 families are able to shop and every single toy is donated.

"Seeing every year how more and more families need support and help during the holidays. And it's just an amazing time where we can all help give back and just be kind to each other,'" Hanover said.