The warm and welcoming children’s room at Penn Hospice at Rittenhouse (PHAR) features a huge colorful mural painted across two of its walls – complete with meandering vines and jungle creatures big and small. There are bean bag chairs-- just the right size for little ones to relax –as well as cuddly fleece blankets to use if they’re a little cold.
The children’s room is an important component of PHAR. Losing a loved one takes a unique toll on children. This room, filled with books and toys and staffed by a counselor, is central to providing comfort when they are grieving and dealing with emotions that may go unaddressed in many other facilities.
But this wasn’t always what greeted children visiting loved ones under hospice care. The original mustard-yellow room was certainly functional, with some toys, a workstation and couches, but not nearly as engaging as it could be. So when Jeri Timm, Volunteer Services Manager at PHAR, was asked to bring new life to the room in the fall of 2013, she had her work cut out for her.
Timm reached out to her volunteers -- who are of many backgrounds, ages and talents – for help. Included were members of SHOOP (Student Hospice Organization of Penn), a group at the University of Pennsylvania that educates students about hospice care and coordinates training for hospice volunteers. Timothy Lee, a fourth-year student at Penn, read the email and knew he wanted to be part of the project. As it turned out, he became the driving force behind it.
Lee wasn’t looking for a project that would fill most of his weekends for nearly a year. In addition to his studies at Penn (he’s pre-med majoring in biology), he volunteers his time for the Asian Arts Initiative, teaching art to students 8 to 15, and offers his services as a photographer in exchange for donations to local charities. But “I get energy from reaching out to the community,” he said. “There’s no such thing as ‘not enough time.’”
Timm’s initial email described the project as getting the room “basically cleaned up,” but, after meeting with her and other members of Hospice, Lee said there was “the potential for something big, a complete makeover.”
The first step was raising the necessary funds. Lee and other members of SHOOP took on the challenge, reaching out to friends and family for donations. “We encouraged everyone to pick five people to reach out to about the project and donate, and then have those people reach out to five more,” he said. The strategy worked. Within two months, they raised over $6,000. “I think when you have passion, people will donate,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lee sent out a general email to Penn students asking for artists who could draw a mural. He said the responses were “amazing” but one person clearly stood out: architecture student Dani Castillo. “We talked about what we were looking for and she started drawing several jungle themes,” Lee said. “We knew she would be the one.”
Once Castillo created the final drawing – and it was approved – the next step was figuring out how to transfer the design to the walls. Lee consulted with Nathaniel Hammitt, a graduate student at Penn’s School of Design. “He jumped on the project,” he said. “He came to the room and helped us project the images on the freshly painted walls. We then realized, “This is really going to work!’”
Lee set up “community sketch days” and put out a call to Penn students for help, stressing that “’no art talent is needed!’ We wanted to expose as many people as possible to what hospice is and make the work they were doing relevant.”
Little by little, the design was traced onto the two walls and then painted. Lee said that more than 85 students were involved in that process. “People were often so touched by the project that they told friends to help out as well.” Between April 2014 and January 2015, Lee and Costello spent every weekend working on the mural. “Without Dani, this would have been impossible,” he said.
At the official opening of the room held earlier this month, Lee thanked the many people who helped revitalize the room, turning it into a place “for older kids to work or relax, and for younger ones to play. It was an immense privilege to be part of this work.”
Middle photo caption: Timothy Lee (kneeling, far right) with CEO Ralph Muller, Joan Doyle, Executive Director, Home Care and Hospice, and some of the many volunteers who helped bring the project to fruition.