Disney VoluntEARS Visit Children’s Hospital Los Angeles with CoachArt
(LOS ANGELES – February 22, 2012) — Chronically-ill children at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) had the opportunity to meet some of their favorite Disney Channel stars today during a morning of activities co-hosted by Disney VoluntEARs from Disney Interactive Media Group, and CoachArt.
Approximately thirty CHLA patients participated in the events that featured playing Disney’s hit game, Where’s my Water? for iPad; making online art on Disney.com’s Create; and Disney arts and crafts activities that included learning how to draw a penguin from Disney’s Club Penguin online virtual world for kids. The children also posed for photos with visiting Disney Channel stars.
Twenty-five Disney VoluntEARs helped the children with the morning’s activities. Each Disney employee was trained before volunteering by the Los Angeles nonprofit CoachArt, and learned how to work with chronically-ill children in a hospital environment.
“At CoachArt our mission is to improve the quality of life for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses and their siblings, by matching them with mentors to provide free lessons in the arts and athletics,” said Thyonne Gordon, CoachArt’s executive director. “Based on our decade of experience, we also train volunteers how to work with chronically-ill children. We are thrilled that our assistance with Disney’s VoluntEARS resulted in such a successful event.”
“My work at Disney, coupled with my volunteer work as a CoachArt board member, came together this morning at CHLA,” said James Pitaro, co-president, Disney Interactive Media Group. “I hope we were able to bring joy to the children and their families, and that they liked meeting some of their favorite Disney television stars and playing with our games and art activities.”
