Project Sunshine

The Summer Solstice Play-A-Thon starts TOMORROW!

This is your official invitation:

Start your Play-A-Thon team.

Here’s the hard part: you’ll have to PLAY. (I know, it’s a lot to ask. We can get through this together.)

Invite your friends and play together all month long, while supporting children with medical needs and raising critical funds.

REGISTER HERE: https://projectsunshine.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.event&eventID=500

YOU'RE INVITED!

Come celebrate Play-A-Thon with us on June 20th at Chelsea Piers Fieldhouse Brooklyn. We're hosting a free day of high-energy fun for the whole family!

👉Register now
https://projectsunshine.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.event&eventID=502

Play is incredibly beneficial to healthy development for all children but takes on even bigger importance for children with medical concerns.

But don’t just take our word for it. In this week’s blog, Blakely M. Rice, Manager of Child Life & Creative Arts Therapy with NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, shares some fundamental truths about why play matters to treatment and healing.

Play preserves developmental momentum when a child's world has been reduced to a hospital room. It quiets their stress systems, protects their immune systems, and reinforces the biological foundations of lifelong health.

Learn more and support play this June with our Play-A-Thon.

🔗 Link in comments.

It's Mental Health Awareness Month and we have a suggestion backed by research.

PLAY!

It supports emotional, cognitive, and social growth, helping build resilience, creativity, and self-regulation—key skills that shape lifelong mental wellbeing.

Looking for an easy way to improve your mental wellbeing? Join our Play-A-Thon. It not only gives you the proven benefits of play but has the added value of giving back to those in need.

When everybody plays, everybody wins!

👉 link in comments

Looking for something meaningful (and actually fun) to do this summer?

This is it.

https://projectsunshine.org/summersolstice

What if one day of play could actually help someone?

(It can.)

👉 link in comments

For many, a desire to give back begins at a very young age.

Our Youth Leadership Council offers high school students the chance to support play for hospitalized kids through fundraising and hosting kit-packing events.

Hear from two of our leaders, Stella and Zola, about how they got involved and why play is important to them.

Read it. Share it. And help them reach their goals by supporting their Play-A-Thon fundraiser for Project Sunshine this June. 🌞
https://projectsunshine.org/ps-blog/the-student-leaders-powering-play

What a night. 🎉
 
To everyone who joined us at the Project Sunshine Gala 2026, thank you. Your presence, your generosity, and your belief in our mission mean everything to us.
 
Together, we are bringing SUNSHINE to those who need it most. ✨🧡

"Play is medicine. I just didn't know how badly I needed it."

Our board member Quemuel Arroyo wrote something worth reading. After a spinal cord injury at 18, play was the last thing on his mind, until it became everything.

His story is about healing, yes. But it's also about becoming someone who helps others heal too.

Read it. Share it. And if you're moved, support his Play-A-Thon fundraiser for Project Sunshine this June 21. 🌞

🔗 Link in comments.

Words like these mean everything. 💛
"I have been a Child Life Specialist for 16 years and have collaborated with Project Sunshine to bring play to kids at three different hospitals now. Project Sunshine has been one of the most consistently supportive partner organizations I have worked with. I know that I can always trust Project Sunshine to provide appropriate support where it's needed most. Volunteers are always well-prepared for anything. The staff are kind, sincere, thoughtful, and intuitive. They truly bring sunshine wherever they go. I am honored and incredibly grateful to get to partner with Project Sunshine." – Janis at NYP Queens
Thank you, Janis, and thank you to every partner who trusts us to show up for kids when it matters most.