Doernbecher Children's Hospital received gifts for teenage patients.

Between February 26 and March 1st Baha’is celebrate Ayyam-i-Ha or intercalary days. Ayyam-i-Ha is a time for celebration and gift giving. Although service to others is a component of Baha’i Life all year round, Ayyam-i-Ha is also a special time to offer service.

This year, a family in SW Portland organized an Ayyam-i-Ha Party and invited their neighbors and kids’ classmates and their families to participate. About 60 people attended the party, which was held at the U.S. Wushu Center in NW Portland. Activities included a Wushu (Traditional Chinese Kung Fu) class for children, junior youth and adults, as well as Tai Chi classes for junior youth and adults. There was free gym time with Hoppity Hops, shooting hoops and running around. All those burned up calories were replaced by a Pizza Fest and homemade 9-pointed star cookies.

The service portion of the celebration included the donations of toys and games for the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital (DCH) at Oregon Health and Sciences University. Party guests were asked to bring a new toy or game appropriate for teenage patients. This group of patients are in most need of donations, as the hospital mainly gets donations for younger children and toddlers. The very full box of donations was recently delivered to the Child Life Representative, Susan Sherwood at Doernbecher. The patients and hospital staff were greatly appreciative of the donations.

Doernbecher Children's Hospital - DVD service project

On April 15 a large box of new movies arrived for the children at Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital. As part of a service project, the Daystar Baha’i School presented the DVDs to the Child Life Office at the hospital for children awaiting surgery.

One of the fundamental principles of the Baha’i Faith is service to mankind. Baha’is strive to translate this concept into action all year, but it receives special attention during the holiday period called Ayyam-i-Ha (February 26 to March 1). For the Daystar Baha’i School in Lake Oswego, this is a special time in which the participants choose a service project for the community.

This year the school became aware of a unique need and stepped up to meet it. Dr. John Ng, who assists his wife Patti with Sunday classes at Daystar, was talking with Dr. Veronica Swanson, Director of Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. Dr. Swanson is an anesthesiolgist who works with Dr. Ng, an ophthamologist at Casey Eye Institute, when he performs pediatric surgery. Dr. Ng learned that the Doernbecher surgery department had renovated induction rooms with new DVD players, which the children use to watch movies while being administered sedation before surgery. Dr. Swanson mentioned that despite having brand new DVD players in the rooms, there were only a handful of DVDs to go around. Some children would miss out.

That conversation inspired this year’s service project for Daystar Baha’i School. The idea of collecting and donating DVDs to the operating rooms at Doernbecher Hospital was brought back to the school and everyone agreed it was a great project. The students spent three weeks collecting money and donated DVDs, as well as having a bake sale. The collective actions of the children, youth and adults at Daystar resulted in a huge box filled with DVDs. Now the children at Doernbecher have a wide range of choices for movies and no one will miss out.