A nightly tradition brings light and hope to children at Michigan hospital

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ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) — Volunteers gripping flashlights waved them high above their heads when the clock struck 8 p.m., shining beams through the frigid night sky — and into the hospital's windows.

Exactly 10 minutes later, the enthusiastic crowd, still holding their flashlights aloft, in unison hollered “sweet dreams” toward children in the hospital several stories above them.

The nightly Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams tradition is again lighting up the night outside Corewell Health Children’s hospital in Royal Oak in suburban Detroit.

For 10 minutes each evening, volunteers standing outside the hospital shine flashlights toward the pediatric rooms above, delivering a message of hope and joy. The kids return the sentiment with their own lights, which they shine toward those below.

“To be stuck in the hospital and feel like the world is moving on without you outside feels a little bit isolating, a little lonely, feels like maybe you’ve been forgotten in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season,” said Amanda Lefkof, a child life specialist at Corewell.

Among the children in the hospital is 4-year-old Zoe Hostetter, who is undergoing chemotherapy treatments. On a recent night, she shone her own flashlight toward the bundled-up well-wishers below with her grandfather, Tim Schuele, by her side.

“It’s just a big group of people that they don’t know, but they see the love being sent by the lights,” he said. “They’re here kind of by themselves or with just close family and that’s it for days."

On these nights, though, the children are far from alone.

Kevin Barringer was among those flashing lights toward the windows one night last week. Barringer's son, Connor, spent two months at the hospital in 2020 recovering from a spinal injury, and they were on the receiving end of the lights.

“It gets pretty dark up there for the kids and for parents as well,” Kevin Barringer said. “Having people down here letting them up there know that there are people with them and sending all their light up that way, it means a lot.”

Stephanie McMillan, sitting in a darkened room, held her 3-month daughter, Wren, in one arm and a flashlight in the other, shooting a beam in the direction of those gathered below.

“It helps the people inside here not feel so alone and the community members being able to be a part of bringing that Christmas joy to the people that are in here,” McMillan said.

The hospital also hosts holiday parties, blanket-making and storytime events for families. Plus, a volunteer dresses as Santa and visits patients in their rooms and at the parties.

Corewell has been overseeing the Moonbeams event since 2017. This year's edition started Dec. 9, and runs through Hanukkah and every night until two days before Christmas.

Participants this year have included groups of high school students, Scout troops and sororities, said Lisa Muma, a registered nurse and one of the event’s organizers. Sports teams often join, including a youth hockey squad who showed up with lights affixed to their sticks.

Anywhere from dozens to hundreds of people gather nightly, depending on the day of the week and the weather.

“We really wanted to come up with a way where we could remind the families and the kids and the patients in the hospital that we’re still thinking of them, that we’re here for them, that we’re standing with them,” Lefkof said. In turn, the pediatric section of the hospital feels a bit like Las Vegas, where “the days and the nights kind of blend together.”

But the Moonbeams event gives the children something to look forward to during a difficult time for many families.

“This is a wonderful way … to really offer them a lot of love when they’re going through a hard time,” she said.