Hannah Bremer (left) and Sophia Schmidt established the Sweet Dreams Project as high school freshmen.
Members in the foundation at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota decided to spend June celebrating kids giving to kids through the creation of Youth Philanthropy Month. Throughout the month, we’ll shine a spotlight on kids who have donated their time, money or efforts to Children’s.
Today we’d like to introduce Hannah Bremer and Sophia Schmidt, both 18, a pair of Rogers High School seniors (graduating today!) and founders of the Sweet Dreams Project, an effort to make pillowcases for patients at Children’s.
What did you/your group donate to Children’s?
Our original and primary project is our homemade pillowcases. Our pillowcase project was inspired by the homemade pillowcases Sophia received from her grandmother when she was a patient at Children’s six years ago. Remembering how the pillowcases lifted Sophia’s spirits and made her hospital room feel more like home, we decided to make our own pillowcases for patients when we were freshmen in high school. What started as a way to spend our summer vacation soon turned into something much bigger, and we have since expanded our project by collecting thousands of teddy bears and craft supplies for patients through drives in our community.
Why did you/your group choose to donate to Children’s?
Both of us have been patients at Children’s, so we know on some level what it is like to be a hospitalized child. We also know that Children’s treats every single child with the utmost care and respect, and we wanted to give back in a small way.
How does donating/giving to others make you feel?
We both have been blessed with good health, and to be able to pay it forward in this way is incredibly rewarding. Just knowing that we were able to bring a little bit of happiness to someone going through such a difficult time makes everything worth it.
How would you encourage others to support Children’s?
Through our project, we have learned that it doesn’t take much to help others. It doesn’t have to be a huge donation or a lot of work. Just a small gift, like a homemade pillowcase or a new box of crayons or a cuddly stuffed animal, can make a big difference. What seems ordinary to you might make another child’s day extraordinary.
If you won the lottery and shared some of your winnings with Children’s what would you want that money to fund?
We would want the money to fund something entertaining for the patients. Having something fun to do can provide an escape from whatever the patient is facing and be beneficial to the healing process. It’s very important to us that patients get a chance to be a regular kid and have fun doing the things they would normally do at school or with their friends.
TEDx Talk: “The untapped potential of today’s youth” w/ Hannah Bremer and Sophia Schmidt
