Donation Helps Keep IV & PICC Line Kids Stay Warm

Two women sit on the lobby bench next to our Ronald McDonald statue displaying donated ponchos.

All sporting Cape Ivy Ponchos, Cindy Hargroves & Meg Smith deliver ponchos for our young guests with IV & PICC lines.

How did you do with those single-digit temperatures this morning? As cold as you felt – even after getting back indoors –  you can imagine it’s hard to keep warm while hooked up to an IV or PICC line with cool fluids. Some of our young guests even have to travel back and forth from the hospital with those attached.

Meg Smith of Virginia had a son, Gavin, who had trouble staying warm while battling a rare disease for 12 years. When he turned 6, Meg came up with the idea to make warm, fuzzy ponchos for kids who got cold easily because of these kind of line attachments. Wearing robes, sweaters, and jackets while inside is cumbersome and impractical with these lines attached to your body. Yet, these kind of ponchos are are easier for children with chronic illness who frequent hospitals often or for many months at a time.

That’s why Meg and her business partner, Cindy Hargroves, started Cape Ivy ponchos and sell as many as possible so they can donate even more to children who are “frequent fliers” at hospitals. They want to donate as many ponchos as possible in honor of Meg’s son. Toward that mission, last month, these two made a whirlwind trip through Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, & Pennsylvania visiting as many hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses as possible.  While at our House, they donated an entire wagon full of their ponchos to those staying in the House who have a constant need to have a line attached. It’s donations from individuals and small businesses like Cape Ivy that help our families to focus on what’s best for their ill children. On a day like today, those ponchos really came in handy. If you have a business and would like to donate items that can directly benefit our families, email Abigail.Brumme@rmhc-centralohio.org 
For more information about the Cape Ivy ponchos, visit CapeIvy.com.