Honor roll of giving - Cook Children's

Eleven years and still bringing smiles
to patients
Brooke (left) and Carys (middle) henry leave their stuffed donations with haley.
For the eleventh time, Haley
Whatley, Cook Children’s 2010
Young Philanthropist award winner,
arrived at the medical center with
her friends to deliver donated
stuffed bears and bunnies from her
annual drive on April 1. This year,
Haley and her bunny ambassadors
collected a record-breaking 3,265
bunnies and bears, marking an
11-year-total of 22,907 donated
stuffed animals.
haley, a 16-year-old sophomore at Birdville high school in north richland hills, decided she wanted to donate
stuffed bunnies for the patients after a visit to Cook Children’s when she was 5 years old. “i thought it was
awful that they only gave kids bears at easter,” she said. “i promised that i would bring in enough bunnies for
everyone.”
That first year, she collected 1,400 stuffed bunnies with the help of her kindergarten class and members of
her church. with the success of her drive, haley eventually added bears, so that Cook Children’s Prayer Bear
ministry would have stuffed animals to use all year long.
“I want people to know that it’s not just me,” Haley said. “I have 39 other students from across the Metroplex
helping me.”
“she spends most of her time going out and speaking to kids at other schools,” says haley’s mom elizabeth.
“she even wrote a bunny ambassador training manual for kids who want to participate with her.”
thank you, haley, for your commitment to giving Cook Children’s patients something to hug and make them feel
better.
“I want the bunnies and bears to help the kids in the medical
center feel comforted and know they are not alone,” Haley said.
10 Children’s Promise | the magazine of Cook Children’s