GEISINGER MEDICAL CENTER -- With less than one week until Christmas, many people still have shopping to do, but for parents of children in the hospital, Christmas shopping tends to come to a screeching halt
Folks at Geisinger Medical Center brought Christmas shopping to parents.
The Molyneaux family from the Mount Pocono area drives about an hour and a half to see 7-year-old Dylan's doctors at Geisinger Medical Center.
"He's going through genetics testing and all kinds of MRIs and things. We're trying to figure out what's wrong," said Janis Molyneaux.
But on Dylan's most recent trip to the doctor, he got to do something unexpected – he could pick any toy he wanted.
"It's awesome. We didn't know anything about this. The lady hands us a card and says, 'you guys can go to our free holiday shop.'"
Every year, people drop off thousands of toys for the kids at Janet Weis Children's Hospital.
"It's already a really stressful situation to be in the hospital during the holidays so we try to lessen that by making sure every kid gets a gift this holiday season," said Taylor Burnham, Geisinger Child Life Services.
Every day leading up to Christmas, there is a toy shop inside the hospital where families can pick out toys for their children who are stuck in the hospital, as well as their siblings.
Kristy Chervy of Swoyersville wasn't expecting her daughter to be in the hospital a few days before Christmas.
"It's Christmas week and we're really busy and she's missing home and missing her brother. But now this will make things a little easier for her."
Employees say some of the biggest toy donations are still to come. They are gearing up for the large toy shop on Friday evening in the lobby of Janet Weis Children's Hospital.
