UNC Children’s Toy Shop Brings Joy and Relief During the Holidays

The days blur together for families spending the holidays at UNC Children’s. Instead of typical December activities, attention is narrowed to test results, treatment schedules, and, often, nonstop worry.

Take Jacqueline, for example, a mother of four whose husband has been unable to work for weeks due to their newborn daughter’s recent cystic fibrosis diagnosis and long hospital stay.

Jacqueline was sure that there would be no Christmas presents for her kids this year and had not left the hospital in over 15 days when she got an invitation to the UNC Children’s Toy Shop.

The Toy Shop is a pop-up holiday program at UNC Children’s that invites parents and caregivers to shop for their children (including their children’s siblings) during their holiday hospital stay. Stocked through the generosity of donors and volunteers, the shop is a welcoming, front facing space where families can look for gifts that reflect their kids’ interests and needs.

Parents receive tickets to shop and are supported by volunteers who help guide them through the experience, wrap gifts, and take care of the details. For families spending the holidays in the hospital, the shop offers both practical support and a rare moment of normalcy, giving parents the chance to step away from the bedside briefly and do something joyful for their children.

“It has been a blessing in disguise,” Jacqueline said. “I haven’t left the hospital for so long, and this just helped me take my mind away from everything that’s been going on. Even for an hour, I didn’t have to think about the diagnosis. I could just enjoy shopping for my kids.”

That is the impact donors rarely see firsthand.

In past years, the holiday effort looked very different. Staff and volunteers packed gift bags behind the scenes, doing their best to anticipate what families might need. But it was difficult to know what would truly be meaningful for each child, and siblings were often left out simply because there was no way to plan for every situation.

The shift to a toy shop model changed that. Now, in the Toy Shop’s second year, parents are invited to shop for their children themselves, choosing gifts that reflect their kids’ personalities and interests. Tickets can be used for any child in the family, not just the patient, acknowledging that illness touches everyone at home.

This year, Zach’s Toy Chest formally sponsored the holiday toy shop at UNC Children’s, bringing more than 2,000 toys to help ensure every family who walked through the doors had the same experience, no matter when they arrived. For ZTC founder Holly Schwab, whose son Zach inspired the organization after his own childhood cancer journey, the sponsorship was about bringing a full experience to families in need.

ZTC has been donating to the patients at UNC Children’s for nearly two decades, and now through the sponsorship of the toy shop, they are curating the whole experience. For example, they stagger the toy offerings throughout the week.

“We wanted everyone who shopped, whether it was the first day or the last day, to have the same experience,” Schwab said. “I didn’t want families picking from what was left over.”

Behind the scenes, staff and parent partners work year-round to make the shop more inclusive and accessible. This year included translated materials, Spanish language interpreters on site, and expanded outreach to ensure families across the hospital knew they were welcome.

“When you’re in the hospital with your child, you’re carrying so much already,” Holly said. “This gives families a chance to feel supported in a very human way. It reminds them they’re not alone.”

The Toy Shop at UNC Children’s can’t change a diagnosis or shorten a hospital stay. But it changes how families feel in the middle of it. It replaces isolation with a moment of whole-family care. It turns generosity into something felt. And for parents navigating the hardest days of their lives, that matters more than words can capture.

“I’m so thankful,” Jacqueline said. “They don’t know how much this means to me, especially where I am right now.”

For more information on supporting patients and their families at UNC Children’s, please contact Mary Gard, Executive Director of Development, UNC Health Foundation.