Brighten Lives Through Program Sponsorship

You can make a lasting and meaningful difference by helping to bring more Starlight programs to Midwest families coping with serious childhood illness.

Great Escapes™

Starlight’s Great Escapes family activities provide families with recreational opportunities and a chance to have fun together away from the hospital so they can regroup, make special memories together and return home with a renewed sense of strength and hope. Throughout the Midwest, hundreds of Starlight family members participate and enjoy fun-filled Great Escapes activities each month.

Starlight needs your help to continue to offer Great Escapes to Midwest families! Sponsor an event or just one part of an event — such as the event’s gift bags.  At every Great Escape, seriously ill children and their siblings and parents receive a gift bag filled with items to help them remember the day and continue to brighten their world, a little each day until the next Great Escape. 

Fun Centers™ 

Fun Center mobile entertainment units include a Nintendo Wii™ gaming system, a DVD player, and a Sharp AQUOS™ LCD television. Their design allows kids, even those who aren’t able to leave their beds or who have limited motion, to play with ease. Fun Centers roll right up to the side of young patients’ beds or anywhere in a hospital setting, making them perfect for hospitalized children in numerous situations: anticipating surgery, during long outpatient clinic treatments, waiting in the emergency room or fighting loneliness after visiting hours have ended. Fun Centers featuring the Wii can even be used to encourage children to do their physical therapy and motor coordination exercises! Caregivers also report that Fun Center use may result in a reduced need for pain medication.

Each sponsor of a Fun Center receives permanent recognition on the unit. Sponsorship cost: $4250.

PC Pals®

PC Pal laptops are durable, mobile and secure computers designed specifically to meet the unique needs of pediatric patients. Wired for Internet connectivity, PC Pals offer email and chat programs that children use to stay in touch with friends and loved ones. Each laptop also provides direct access to Starbright World, our private, online community built to provide seriously ill teens with a support network and critically important sense of belonging. In addition, kids can better manage school assignments using email and online research tools.

More than a powerful communication tool, each PC Pal comes pre-installed with Starlight’s medical education and disease management programs that provide medical information in a fun, engaging manner and empower children to better manage and cope with their medical conditions and confidently interact with medical professionals. PC Pals also include third party games, age-appropriate learning software and media programs that enable users to play music and watch movies.

Each sponsor of a PC Pals receives permanent recognition on the unit. Sponsorship Cost: $5,000. 

Contact Meredith Stadel, Development Manager, (312) 251-7827, ext. 14 or mstadel@starlightmidwest.org.