Child's Play

Four years ago, Erin Puck didn't know whether she would make it through 6th grade. At the time, the New Jersey native was only 12, but she was old enough to know that the brain tumor she was diagnosed with could kill her.

It began one morning when she woke up with a headache. Later that day she vomited. When the same thing happened two days later and again the next week, her mother realized it wasn't just the flu. Initially, Erin was diagnosed with anemia, sinusitis, and the quirks of puberty. But an MRI finally revealed a brain tumor the size of a golf ball: a medulloblastoma, a highly malignant tumor that occurs mostly in children, usually boys between the ages of three and eight. Two days after the MRI, she had surgery at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

From Patient to Philanthropist

After her surgery, Erin was extremely sensitive to light and sound. She asked a visiting social worker, "Why is it so noisy?" The woman explained that children going to or coming from treatment were crying, and there weren't enough toys to keep them busy. That's when Erin had her "Aha!" moment.

When Erin began her chemotherapy treatments (this time at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey), she brought toys for the other children in the hospital. They were so overjoyed that Erin decided to expand her giving by developing a full-fledged charity.

Today the 16-year-old runs Toys.Calm, a non-profit organization, which donates toys, books, laptops, and games to area hospitals. (To date, Erin has collected almost US$100,000 in donations and distributed more than 50,000 toys and 30 laptops to New York Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and Jersey Shore Medical Center, Robert Wood Johnson, and Monmouth Medical Center in New Jersey.) According to Laura, Erin's mother, "checks just seem to roll in."

The charity receives donations from schools, corporations, and other foundations. Some people find the address on the website and mail a check, while organizations such as schools drop off toys at the Puck's house in Fair Haven, New Jersey. The Ladies Auxiliary of the Veterans Association sends a monthly check, and the Crystal Point Yacht Club in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, donated the cost of warehouse space. In December 2003, CIBC World Markets donated US$10,000. And a basketball game between local police and students raised money for research on brain tumors. All the money that the Pucks receive goes straight to the charity; they deduct no administrative fees.

Keeping it in the Family

Erin devotes about eight hours a week to the charity during the school year and 15 to 20 hours a week in the summer. Her mother handles numerous administrative duties, talks to everyone from individual donors to the press, and arranges and makes hospital deliveries. Erin's 18-year-old brother, Ryan, stocks the warehouse and also helps with deliveries.

Barely 5'3" and still in braces, Erin looks young for her age, but, according to her mother, she's a powerful public speaker and one heck of a fund-raiser and organizer. When Erin spoke at a Make-a-Wish Foundation benefit, she told listeners that gravely ill children need more than a granted wish, they need something "almost magical" to inspire them to muster what it takes to combat a serious illness. She has also addressed a Veterans of Foreign Wars meeting and a local Rotary Club about the importance of giving back. When a local food bank honored Erin with a Junior Humanitarian Award, she spoke movingly about how she started the charity and what she hopes to accomplish.

Erin and her mother are redesigning their efforts so they can obtain exactly what hospitals need. For example, they have accumulated more than 100 Candy Land games, and now the institutions are overloaded with them. Instead, one hospital needs computer games and crafts for teenagers. Another hospital has requested a video camera to send tapes of children to far-away grandparents. The Pucks have also realized that if they receive strictly monetary donations for their charity, they would be able to shop for the appropriate gifts themselves, which would eliminate the need for a warehouse.

In the future, Erin would also like to help parents who need transportation to visit their sick children. "I've seen kids whose parents can't come to the hospital every day because they live too far or work at two jobs. It's sad that there are so many young kids who are alone much of the time."

But Erin also has her own future to think of. The high school junior is considering how the charity will change when she heads to college. If all donations are monetary by that time, she would be able to be involved via the internet. But if an organization like a school is interested in taking over, says Erin "that would be great." Otherwise, her mission will be to continue to target hospitals' needs. "Before I got sick, I never thought about what it might be like to be in the hospital," she explains, "and now, if I can help kids have a better time of it, I just have to."

Erin still doesn't like needles, so she's not considering a medical career. Both education and the law interest her. But no matter what field she decides to choose, she'll be highly successful. She's proven that already, 100 times over.

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