A nonprofit is delivering holiday cheer to kids that often can't make it out of their own home due to an illness, injury or medical issue.
On Friday, nurses from Coastal Kids Home Care began making holiday deliveries to their patients.
Some are bed-ridden like Bennett in Gilroy. He’s only 8 years old, and has seizures every day.
“He’s unable to talk, walk, he uses a G-tube to eat,” said Kara Solomon.
Bennett's family said that something as small as a stuffed animal, a book, and a gift card means the world.
“A kid with high medical needs like Bennett, they often get left out of any kind of special gift giving or holiday experiences. And to have this special gift and time just for him, it’s really wonderful,” Solomon said.
“It doesn’t even feel like a job. Sometimes it feels like family,” Maribel Maranon, a registered nurse with Coastal Kids, said. “The patients and their families become your family.”
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Coastal Kids Home Care provides care for patients in Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara counties.
They’ll be doing deliveries through Christmas. In some cases, delivering the only gifts some of these economically challenged families can get.
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“This is our biggest year yet. We’ve been so blessed through donors that we’ve been able to reach over 515 different families,” Amanda Mayfield of Coastal Kids said. “Being able to give out over $82,000 worth of gifts, books, gift cards.”
The nurses also stopped in Morgan Hill for a visit with 5-year-old Olivia.
“It makes Olivia feel thought about and special,” Nicole Hershey said, adding that after all that the nurses do, this extra visit is a gift in itself.
“It’s hard to put into words until you are a medical family to understand what an in-home nurse does for your family.” Hershey said, “they’ve been awesome, a huge lifesaver.”
