Philanthropy News from Hasbro Children's
Monday, January 27, was a particularly special day at Oak Lawn Elementary School in Cranston. It’s when 9-year-old Cullen Dailey, a third grader at the school, was introduced as Hasbro Children’s 2025 Champion Child, joined by his classmates, teachers, and members of his care team from the hospital for the memorable moment.
Born with Severe Hemophilia A, a rare bleeding disorder for which there is no cure, Cullen has been treated regularly at Hasbro Children’s and its Tomorrow Fund Clinic since the age of 8 months. Because his blood contains less than one percent of the necessary blood clotting factor, Cullen is at risk of spontaneous bleeding – without cause – throughout his body.
But thanks to the expertise of Hasbro Children’s, Cullen is an extremely active and personable young man who’s no different than any other third grader. Monthly, he receives a special clotting factor replacement therapy in the form of an injection that has drastically improved his quality of life.
Although his condition will require lifelong management, Cullen is thriving, which surprises no one who knows him. He plays soccer and golf, takes guitar lessons, and loves to play board and video games. As the 2025 Children’s Miracle Network Hospital’s Rhode Island Champion for Hasbro Children’s, he’ll spend the year as an ambassador, highlighting the importance of funding pediatric care and research.
On February 14, Hasbro Children’s marked its 30th birthday with a special celebration, introducing its 2024 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Champion Child and unveiling its new – and first – mascot.
More than 150 hospital staff, community partners, and friends filled the hospital’s cafeteria as Francois Luks, MD, Hasbro Children’s Pediatric Surgeon-in-Chief, began the celebration by reflecting on three decades caring for children. Shortly after, Phyllis Dennery, MD, the hospital’s Pediatrician-in-Chief, made the Champion Child announcement everyone was waiting for.
Highlighting the young patient’s determination to overcome her medical challenges with courage and strength, Dr. Dennery introduced 9-year old London Fazekas as the Hasbro Children’s 2024 Children’s Miracle Networks Champion Child. London, whose parents Crystal and Ryan beamed with pride as they stood alongside her, was diagnosed with spina bifida while in utero and faced the prospect of never being able to walk independently.
Just one day after being born in January 2015, London underwent an intricate 8-hour surgery at Hasbro Children’s to close the spinal cord on her tiny newborn spine. The surgery was performed by Petra Klinge, MD, who leads the hospital’s pediatric neurosurgery program, and who gave the family hope that London could overcome the odds.
On Thanksgiving 2016, London showed off her hard work in physical therapy, walking on her own across the room to the amazement of family and friends gathered for the holiday. It’s been more than seven years since, and London has been on the move ever since. She’s thriving in soccer, dance, and karate – where she’s training for her Black Belt. Dr. Klinge, and Konstantina Svokos, MD, another of Hasbro Children’s amazing pediatric neurosurgeons, were in attendance and presented London with her special Champion Child medal.
The final surprise of the ”birthday party” was the official unveiling of Hope the Harbor Seal, Hasbro Children’s new – and first – mascot. Hope was created as a single symbol that highlights the unique calling of Hasbro Children’s, unites diverse teams, and reflects the hospital’s child-friendly spirt. Special miniature Hope stuffies were offered to everyone as a keepsake of the milestone day.
Wednesday, December 6, marked not only Hasbro, Inc.’s 11th annual “Global Day of Joy,” but also the company’s centennial.
This year’s Day of Joy engaged more than 6,000 Hasbro, Inc. employees with some 200 service projects in 40 countries around the world, with Hasbro Children’s among the local beneficiaries.
After Team Hasbro volunteers played games with patients at the bedside and in playrooms, several members of the company’s executive leadership team took to the hospital units with stretchers filled with toys. Accompanied by the Child Life Services team, they visited patients on every floor including the outpatient ambulatory clinics and the emergency department. The activities provided a behind-the-scenes look at what makes Hasbro Children’s so special.
Alan Hassenfeld, Hasbro, Inc.’s Chairman Emeritus, former CEO, and member of the company’s founding family, joined the group to make a special announcement. Much to the delight of staff and everyone present, he shared that Hasbro Children’s will receive a $300,000 donation from The Hassenfeld Family Foundation as part of the company’s 100th anniversary celebration. The gift is the result of the hospital placing 2nd in fan votes during the Pulse Centennial Fan Choice Campaign, a two-month online effort that gave fans the opportunity to direct how the foundation would allot its commitment to donate a total of $1 million to charity.
Dr. Phyllis Dennery, Pediatrician-in-Chief and Sylvia Kay Hassenfeld Professor of Pediatrics was present for the exciting announcement. She commented, “Through their good work, Alan and his family are wonderful leaders and role models who demonstrate time and again that philanthropy can dramatically impact and improve the lives of children. We are enormously grateful for their generous support and longstanding commitment to Hasbro Children’s.”
Providence was a special place for Emily and Colby Cave. They both grew up in Canada but met and fell in love in Rhode Island’s capital city while Colby was playing for the Providence and Boston Bruins from 2015 to 2019. While he was with the team, the ice hockey center even spent some time volunteering at Hasbro Children’s.
Tragically, in April 2020, just eight months after the couple’s wedding, Colby passed away at age 25 due to a colloid cyst.
“He was genuine, caring, selfless, and had a contagious laugh. But most importantly he had the biggest heart,” Emily says. “He always wanted to help people.”
As a way of honoring Colby’s spirit and legacy, Hasbro Children’s established The Colby Cave Medical-Psychiatric Fund with a $50,000 donation from the Boston Bruins Foundation. The fund supports entertainment and enrichment programs for children and adolescents who are simultaneously struggling with psychiatric and medical illnesses.
“Colby had a soft spot for Hasbro Children’s, for sure,” Emily says. “He always glowed when he talked about his visits.”
The Colby Cave Medical-Psychiatric Fund benefits patients receiving both inpatient and outpatient levels of care.
Specifically, the fund has allowed the hospital to expand programming in the Healing Arts, including hosting visiting artists, musicians, and yoga instructors.
Colby’s memorial funds—which also includes one established by the Edmonton Oilers, the team he had been playing for at the time of his death—primarily support mental health- related programs for children.
“Mental health was super important to us in our life together, and I feel like it doesn’t always get enough attention,” Emily says.
The Bruins Foundation raised funds for its gift through various events, such as Colby Cave Nights in Providence and Boston. At the Providence event, the P-Bruins retired Colby’s number, 25—making it the first one to be raised to the rafters in the organization’s history.
“We thought it would be best to donate to the community where Colby spent the majority of his professional playing career, which was Providence,” says Bob Sweeney, President of the Boston Bruins Foundation. “I applaud Emily for helping us direct funds to children who are in need of assistance.”
Emily adds that she is grateful the Bruins Foundation has helped her honor Colby in a way that would be meaningful to him.
“We were only married for eight months and didn’t have the opportunity to have kids of our own,” Emily says. “But he would love knowing how many kids are going to be helped because of his fund. It’s so special that we’re still taking care of kids together, with him in heaven and me here.”
Donors and hospital leadership gathered outside in the healing garden on June 1 for a ribbon cutting and open house to celebrate the completion of extensive renovations to Hasbro Children’s. The state-of-the-art upgrades were funded by the Every Child, Every Day campaign, which raised more than $41.2 million – making it the most successful campaign in the history of Brown University Health.
Attendees listened to a brief speaking program before embarking on small group tours to get a first-hand look at the refreshed lobby, emergency room, patient floors, ambulatory clinic, and other areas.
In his remarks, Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s President Saul Weingart, MD, noted his appreciation for the many generous donors who supported the campaign. He also thanked Dimeo Construction, which completed the renovations on time, without interruption to patient care, while dealing with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patient- and Family-Centered Care
Child Life is an essential piece of the program, funded entirely by philanthropy.
I had no idea I was in a helicopter,” recalls Lara Andrade, reflecting on that fateful day in March 2021 when she was airlifted to Hasbro Children’s from a hospital near her family’s Massachusetts home.
It all began a week prior when Lara, now 17, was complaining about headaches that wouldn’t go away. Her mom, Karine, and dad, Avelino, took her to the local emergency department, where she was diagnosed with an ear infection. A few days later and not yet feeling better Lara started struggling to breathe.
She was rushed back to the nearby hospital and a barrage of tests came back normal. But Lara’s sudden, odd, and confused behavior alarmed doctors, who wanted her to go to Hasbro Children’s immediately.
“I didn’t even know where Providence was,” says Karine, who grew up in Cape Verde. “I started to wonder if she was going to survive, that’s how scared I was.”
More than a decade ago, Hasbro Children’s tapped Fran Pingitore, PhD, PCNS-BC, to lead its Patient- and Family-Centered Care initiative. The model aimed to redefine relationships in health care by emphasizing collaboration to plan, deliver, and evaluate care among providers, patients and families. It would later be instrumental to Lara’s medical journey.
“As providers and as a hospital, we do a lot to and for our patients, but this was about partnering with our patient families, amplifying their voice in the care of their child, and meeting them where they’re at,” Dr. Pingitore says.
‘Meeting families where they’re at’ is a mantra you’ll hear frequently at Hasbro Children’s. It’s the hospital’s commitment to getting to know and understand each family’s individualities and where they may be with their anxieties and fears—which, ultimately, supports care delivery and leads to improved outcomes.
Increasingly, Rhode Island children, particularly those from lower-income communities, are struggling with weight-related conditions and seeking care at Hasbro Children’s Primary Care Clinic. In response, one of the clinic’s programs is making great strides in treating this vulnerable population.
Called Healthy Eating Active Living Through Hasbro (HEALTH), the program is directed by Celeste Corcoran, MD, and aims to reduce the issue of childhood obesity in kids and young adults through education. Participants learn about reading nutrition labels, sugar-sweetened beverages, exercise, screen time, and much more.
Recently, a generous gift from the Raymond T. and Ann T. Mancini Family Foundation helped the HEALTH program expand its important mission. The gift has funded the hiring of a part-time clinical care coordinator who serves as a liaison to patient families in Providence and other nearby urban core cities, providing educational outreach, programming, and follow-up care.
Donating to the HEALTH program was a perfect fit for the Mancini Family Foundation as the family specifically looks to support causes related to widening access to education of all kinds, according to Deborah Mancini Morrocco. Her parents, Raymond and Ann, started the Foundation as a way to use some of the profits from their flooring and beverage distribution businesses to help those in need.
“The way the program engages families on healthy eating is very impressive,” Deborah says. “It takes a lot of time and energy to deliver the education piece around what and how to eat. This program will help kids live happier, healthier lives, and it was an honor to be able to support the hospital in this way.”
Grant News from Hasbro Children's
The Children’s Integrative Therapy Pain Management and Supportive Care (CHIPS) program at Hasbro Children’s has been awarded $45,000 from the Rhode Island Foundation’s Special Medical Funds to provide non-pharmacological pain management and pain reduction for children receiving palliative and hospice care at the hospital.
The Shaw’s and Star Market Foundation and Albertsons Companies Foundation have awarded the hospital a $30,000 Nourishing Neighbors Nutrition Security Grant to support food security efforts in our Connect for Health program at Hasbro Children’s Primary Care Clinics.
Hasbro Children’s is thrilled to receive a $50,000 grant award from the Shriners of Rhode Island Charities Trust. This grant supports the Pediatric Pulmonary program and enables us to purchase a new, child-sized flexible bronchoscope.
A grant of $2,500 was awarded by the Edwin S. Soforenko Foundation to support healing arts at Hasbro Children’s. The grant will be used to provide a style of yoga that encourages physical, mental and emotional relaxation to children in the hospital’s medical-psychiatric inpatient unit and Partial Hospital Program as well as allow us to purchase yoga props and yoga mats as needed.
Get your dancing shoes ready – the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation has awarded the hospital’s TALC (The Adolescent Leadership Council) Program $29,770 to support the third annual “TALC Runs on Dunkin’” Teen Prom, scheduled for May 2024.
A generous three-year, $46,610 grant from the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation’s Dogs for Joy program will support Hasbro Children’s in-residence therapy dogs. This grant will enable us to expand the program, adding a new, furry staff member to the Child Life Services team in addition to Cali, who works in the Lawrence A. Aubin, Sr. Child Protection Center.
One Mission, Inc. awarded a grant of $29,599 in support of Hasbro Children’s’s “One Mission Creative Arts & Healing Program” aimed at lifting the spirits of children and families fighting cancer in the Tomorrow Fund Clinic.
Through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Hasbro Children’s was awarded a Rhode Island State Designated Grant of $90,000 in support of the hospital’s school program. The Hospital School ensures that children who are admitted for care at Hasbro Children’s remain involved with their school work. With the Department’s invaluable support, our program provides not only educational services – often at a child’s bedside – but a sense of normalcy for when a child is away from school for extended periods.