GRR - Grand Rapids, MI

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News

2026 GRR PFKs Date Annoucement

Last updated 4 weeks ago

Hello everyone.
I have exciting news to share with everyone for this year’s activities. I know many of you miss the parties we had at Helen Devos and would love to see those return. Unfortunately, the hospital will not return to that type of environment, however thanks to our friends at Gilda’s, we have been introduced to Children’s Healing Center of Grand Rapids. I met with them last week to tour their location and meet the coordinators. They throw a Christmas party once a year for their children and families. As part of pilots for kids, I agreed to host their annual Christmas party. Based on the description of their party, it will be very similar to what we are able to do at Helen Devos prior to Covid. I am excited for this new opportunity to spend time with the children and their families.
Children’s Healing Center is a facility that provides social and emotional healing for kids with weakened immune systems and their families in a safe, clean environment. These kids are either dealing with some active disease or recently able to overcome it. The facility is a state-of-the-art facility that provides a germ-free environment for children to learn and recover from their illness. The event will have 80-100 kids (ages 0-20) that attend with their family. This will mean that this will become our large event of the year. We will have multiple rooms throughout the facility that we will have to staff. Each room will contain something that we will do with the children. There will be game rooms, a craft room and a cookie decorating room. Those of you who remember the table stations at Helen Devos, this will be very similar but in individual rooms. We will serve coffee, hot chocolate and breakfast snacks to the families. The event will end with the kids visiting Santa and receiving a gift. Their facility is a germ-free environment so they ask you to have a flu shot unless you have an exception. When you enter you will be in a positive pressure room where they conduct a health screening (Temperature check and a questioner). This will be our big event of the year so we will need as many volunteers as possible.
These are the details of the event:
Children’s Healing Center
1580 East Beltline Ave SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
https://childrenshealing.org/

Date: Saturday December 5th 9:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M.

Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids
Our Gilda event will look very similar to our events of the past but possibly smaller. Phil has informed me that their attendance has been down over the summer. So hopefully we will be able to have a smaller event. Arrival will be around 4:30 to set up for the event. We will serve dinner to all of the family members and then the youth groups will join us for the Holiday Party.
1806 Bridge ST. NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Date: Wednesday December 2nd 4:30-7:30
Helen DeVos
For the Helen DeVos event we will participate in Blue Glass Live from the television studios in the hospital. The program consists of Bingo and some other type of aviation themed game. We will play host and interact with the kids virtually while they stream the show live to the rooms. Arrival time will be at 1:30-1:45pm behind the main lobby desk. The planned game time is an hour and then we will hand out prizes to the winners. There will also be an opportunity to visit other kid’s rooms to distribute other gifts. This event will be smaller and only require 4-5 members.
100 Michigan ST NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Date: Thursday December 10th 1:30-4:00

Funding/Gifts
Thank you again to everyone who donated last year, we appreciate everyone’s support.
This year Pilots for Kids has partnered with two amazing companies that allow us to purchase directly from them at a significantly reduced price. The two partners are Melissa & Doug and Pillow Pets. I have placed two large orders of gifts for the younger age group of kids. (7 years and younger).
The orders placed with our partnering companies uses monetary donations from our GRR Pilots for Kids account.
If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation, please use the address below. Once on the page, click on donate on the left side bottom. Please make sure that GRR is selected in the drop-down menu below Direct my Donation To. That way the money goes directly to our chapter.
Grr.pilotsforkids.org
We have updated our Amazon wish list; however, this is geared toward the older kids (8 years and older)
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1YH8F474O1J9Q?ref_=wl_share
Any contribution is helpful in putting a smile on a kid’s face.
I look forward to seeing those of you who are able to attend and appreciate the local community that we have established. As your December schedules come out, please let me know if you are able to attend either of our events. This group makes a difference for the children who are going through a hard time!

Brian Theisen
GRR PFKs Coordinator
brianstheisen@gmail.com
(734)277-2995
http://grr.pilotsforkids.org/

2026 GRR PFKs Date Annoucement

Last updated 4 weeks ago

Hello everyone.
I have exciting news to share with everyone for this year’s activities. I know many of you miss the parties we had at Helen Devos and would love to see those return. Unfortunately, the hospital will not return to that type of environment, however thanks to our friends at Gilda’s, we have been introduced to Children’s Healing Center of Grand Rapids. I met with them last week to tour their location and meet the coordinators. They throw a Christmas party once a year for their children and families. As part of pilots for kids, I agreed to host their annual Christmas party. Based on the description of their party, it will be very similar to what we are able to do at Helen Devos prior to Covid. I am excited for this new opportunity to spend time with the children and their families.
Children’s Healing Center is a facility that provides social and emotional healing for kids with weakened immune systems and their families in a safe, clean environment. These kids are either dealing with some active disease or recently able to overcome it. The facility is a state-of-the-art facility that provides a germ-free environment for children to learn and recover from their illness. The event will have 80-100 kids (ages 0-20) that attend with their family. This will mean that this will become our large event of the year. We will have multiple rooms throughout the facility that we will have to staff. Each room will contain something that we will do with the children. There will be game rooms, a craft room and a cookie decorating room. Those of you who remember the table stations at Helen Devos, this will be very similar but in individual rooms. We will serve coffee, hot chocolate and breakfast snacks to the families. The event will end with the kids visiting Santa and receiving a gift. Their facility is a germ-free environment so they ask you to have a flu shot unless you have an exception. When you enter you will be in a positive pressure room where they conduct a health screening (Temperature check and a questioner). This will be our big event of the year so we will need as many volunteers as possible.
These are the details of the event:
Children’s Healing Center
1580 East Beltline Ave SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
https://childrenshealing.org/

Date: Saturday December 5th 9:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M.

Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids
Our Gilda event will look very similar to our events of the past but possibly smaller. Phil has informed me that their attendance has been down over the summer. So hopefully we will be able to have a smaller event. Arrival will be around 4:30 to set up for the event. We will serve dinner to all of the family members and then the youth groups will join us for the Holiday Party.
1806 Bridge ST. NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Date: Wednesday December 2nd 4:30-7:30
Helen DeVos
For the Helen DeVos event we will participate in Blue Glass Live from the television studios in the hospital. The program consists of Bingo and some other type of aviation themed game. We will play host and interact with the kids virtually while they stream the show live to the rooms. Arrival time will be at 1:30-1:45pm behind the main lobby desk. The planned game time is an hour and then we will hand out prizes to the winners. There will also be an opportunity to visit other kid’s rooms to distribute other gifts. This event will be smaller and only require 4-5 members.
100 Michigan ST NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Date: Thursday December 10th 1:30-4:00

Funding/Gifts
Thank you again to everyone who donated last year, we appreciate everyone’s support.
This year Pilots for Kids has partnered with two amazing companies that allow us to purchase directly from them at a significantly reduced price. The two partners are Melissa & Doug and Pillow Pets. I have placed two large orders of gifts for the younger age group of kids. (7 years and younger).
The orders placed with our partnering companies uses monetary donations from our GRR Pilots for Kids account.
If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation, please use the address below. Once on the page, click on donate on the left side bottom. Please make sure that GRR is selected in the drop-down menu below Direct my Donation To. That way the money goes directly to our chapter.
Grr.pilotsforkids.org
We have updated our Amazon wish list; however, this is geared toward the older kids (8 years and older)
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1YH8F474O1J9Q?ref_=wl_share
Any contribution is helpful in putting a smile on a kid’s face.
I look forward to seeing those of you who are able to attend and appreciate the local community that we have established. As your December schedules come out, please let me know if you are able to attend either of our events. This group makes a difference for the children who are going through a hard time!

Brian Theisen
GRR PFKs Coordinator
brianstheisen@gmail.com
(734)277-2995
http://grr.pilotsforkids.org/

2025 PFK's Date Announcemnt

Last updated 1 year ago

Hello everyone.
Time is flying and we are quickly approaching our events. The dates are finalized, and listed below. We have gifts left over from last year so if you would like to contribute, please make a tax-deductible donation (Information Below). As your December schedules come out, please let me know if you are able to attend either of our events.

Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids
1806 Bridge ST. NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504
Date: Thursday December 18th 4:30-7:30
Our Gilda event will look very similar to our events of the past. Arrival will be around 4:30 to set up for the event. We will serve dinner to all of the family members and then the youth groups will join us for the Holiday Party. This will be out big event of the year so we will need as many volunteers as possible.

Helen DeVos
100 Michigan ST NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Date: Tuesday December 16th 1:30-4:00
For the Helen DeVos event we will participate in Blue Glass Live from the television studios in the hospital. The program consists of Bingo and some other type of aviation themed game. We will play host and interact with the kids virtually while they stream the show live to the rooms. Arrival time will be at 1:30-1:45pm behind the main lobby desk. The planned game time is an hour and then we will hand out prizes to the winners. There will also be an opportunity to visit other kid’s rooms to distribute other gifts. This event will be smaller and only require 4-5 members.

Funding/Gifts
Thank you again everyone who contributed last year. As I stated above, we have plenty of gifts left over from last year so if you would like to contribute, please make a tax-deductible contribution this year. This will go directly to the funding of the events. I hope to bring back the Amazon Wish List next year once we give away last year’s remaining gifts. To make a donation go to the GRR chapter of Pilots for Kids website. The address is below, once on the page click on donate on the left side bottom. Please make sure that GRR is selected in the drop-down menu below Direct my Donation To. That way the money goes directly to our chapter.
Grr.pilotsforkids.org (Donations via Pilot 4 Kids website-Tax deductible)
I still hope to try and establish an event with Mary Free Bed. I have reached out to them but have still yet to hear back. If anyone has a contact there, please let me know.

I look forward to seeing those of you who are able to attend and appreciate the local community that we have established. This group makes a difference for the children who are going through a hard time!

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