Eliza Liebowitz, a 16-year-old student on Long Island, managed to mobilize her peers and neighbors to donate toys to children with cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. Her initiative began after learning about the experience of a friend treated at that hospital.
The young woman began collecting action figures, dolls, board games, art supplies, and other gifts specially requested by patients. Over time, her effort became a Courage Cart, a cart designed to bring moments of distraction to children facing very difficult treatments.
For many children, receiving a toy does not eliminate the pain or change the diagnosis, but it can bring back a few minutes of childhood inside the hospital. In a hallway full of gowns and machines, a box of Legos can be a much-needed break.
