Looking Back at 2021's Top Starlight Moments
As we left 2020 in the rearview mirror and moved into 2021, the world still faced new challenges—but with those challenges came new opportunities and positive change. Looking back at the year, Starlight is so thankful for all the incredible mission moments that helped us serve seriously ill kids and their families. From new Disney Princess-themed Starlight Gowns to our newest Starlight Gaming handheld making its way to kids across the country, it was a year worth celebrating.
Check out some of the most exciting moments of 2021!
In collaboration with our friends at Disney, Starlight created our first-ever Disney Princess-themed gowns.
As part of the Ultimate Princess Celebration, Disney and Starlight teamed up to deliver Princess-themed gowns to hospitals, sparking moments of joy for hospitalized kids. These gowns embody the courage and bravery shown by every child experiencing serious illness.
Starlight Kid Henry designed his very own Starlight Gown to deliver happiness to seriously ill kids across the US.
4-year-old Henry was diagnosed with leukemia in 2020 and loved wearing his very own Starlight Gown, so he wanted to help deliver smiles to other kids going through similar experiences. His “dino-mite” design featured his favorite animal – a dinosaur!
We launched our brand-new Starlight Gaming Handheld Program!
The Starlight Gaming handheld takes the impact of Starlight Gaming to a whole new level. As a more portable iteration of the Starlight Nintendo Switch Gaming station, healthcare professionals can use it in less accessible locations, like the Emergency Room or even an ambulance!
Starlight secured a 4-Star Charity Navigator rating for our sixth consecutive year.
Starlight has the distinct honor of being just 13% of charities that has received at least six consecutive 4-star evaluations. We are proud to be in a league of our own when it comes to fiscal responsibility and transparency, ranking higher than many of the country’s top children’s charities.
We launched our first-ever Build-A-Backpack, providing resources to our hospital partners that make learning more fun and accessible for kids that are stuck in the hospital.
Through our Deliveries program, we were able to bring school supplies to hospitals to create custom school backpacks for patients spending days, weeks, or even months in the hospital. Hospitals are now able to provide their patients with the exact supplies they need to learn from their hospital bed or at home between treatments when they can’t return to school.
15 MLB Clubs each placed two Starlight Gaming handhelds at their local hospitals.
The MLB and Starlight continued our partnership of over 15 years by donating a total of 30 handhelds pre-loaded with R.B.I. Baseball 21 and other fun games to local children’s hospitals! Mascots including Wally the Green Monster from the Boston Red Sox helped deliver the gaming units to hospitals.
It was record-breaking year for Stream For Starlight, raising over $500,000 to deliver happiness.
This year, we hosted several new Stream For Starlight campaigns – including Spring Stream, Summer Stream, and Stream Halloween – in addition to our two annual S4S campaigns in September and December. Our generous community of streamers brought in a recording-breaking number of donations in 2021, placing over 80 Nintendo Switch handhelds and Gaming stations in hospitals across the country!
These are just some of the incredible moments that Starlight celebrated in 2021, each one made possible by our generous donors and partners. We couldn’t be more grateful for their commitment to our mission and to the seriously ill kids we serve. We can’t wait to see what Starlight’s community makes possible in 2022!
